When we lived in Pennsylvania, some winters our yard was visited by
thieves who descended upon the bird feeders in a flock of ten to twenty
birds, cleaned the seed from the feeders, then flew on. The attack was
repeated every two or three weeks, until Spring finally returned. Then
they would be gone, not to be seen again for another two or three years.
Evening
Grosbeaks were irruptive winter birds in my previous home. In spite of
the spike they created in the bird seed bill, they were welcome
visitors. The male’s gaudy plumage, dominated by bright yellow, was a
spark of color against the gray-brown winter landscape. The sudden
appearance and equally sudden disappearance of the nomadic flock - the
enthusiasm of their voracious appetites - the energy with which the
flock seemed to do everything - all helped to chase the winter doldrums.
Evening
Grosbeaks also empty the feeders in my Vermont yard, but they do not
disappear. They stay in the neighborhood, and as soon as I refill the
feeders, they are back, cracking one sunflower seed after another with
their massive bills and sending my seed bill soaring.
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| Evening Grosbeaks in January |
As common as the Evening Grosbeak is in my yard, for
many birdwatchers it is a rare, sought after species. Last year a young
birder who reads my blog emailed me; he was going to be in southern
Vermont for a weekend. Could he come by to see the grosbeaks?
Unfortunately, that Spring weekend was the one weekend when the
grosbeaks decided to go elsewhere. As soon as he was safely back in New
Jersey, the grosbeaks were back in my trees.
When the
European colonists were settling the Atlantic coast, the Evening
Grosbeak was not present. It was primarily a bird of the western
mountains, Northwest, although one of the earliest specimens was
collected at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
When first
discovered, the Evening Grosbeak was observed to sing in the evening -
hence its name. This observation was incorporated in both its common
name and its scientific name.
Scientifically, the Evening Grosbeak has been named (until recently)
Hesperiphona vesperina. Hesperiphona
refers to the Hesperides, the “Daughters of the Night,” who dwell on
the western edge of the world where the sun sets. The Evening Grosbeak
was first observed in the far west where the sun sets. Or perhaps more
precisely, as one source suggests, the name comes from the Greek
hesperios, “at evening,” and
phona,”voice” - hence “evening voice.”
With scientific redundancy, the species name is
vesperina, from the Latin meaning “belonging to the evening.”
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| Male cracks seeds and feeds a fledgling. |
Scientists have recently reclassified the Evening Grosbeak. It is now
Coccothrautus vesperina. It shares its Genus with the Hawfinch of Europe and the Hooded Grosbeak of South America.
Coccothraustes is from the Greek to “shatter,” a reference to crushing fruit pits. But it is still
“vesperina” - the bird that sings in the evening.
The
name is poetic, but untrue. The Evening Grosbeak sings any time of the
morning, afternoon, or evening. The song is sometimes described as a
loud “peeyr” with a ringing quality, but that is a generous description.
The Evening Grosbeak is not much of a songster.
Historically,
the Evening Grosbeak was a western species. Until the late 1800s, the
bird was rarely seen east of the Mississippi. Eastern expansion is
commonly attributed to the widespread planting of box elder trees in
prairie windbreaks and as an ornamental tree in northeastern cities.
Seeds of the box elder persist on the tree through winter, which allowed
erratic winter flocks from the west to overwinter (Forbush 1929). Some
overwintering birds remained to nest, leading to the expansion of its
breeding range. The first recorded nesting in Vermont was in 1926.
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| The large, powerful beak accounts for the folk name, "English Parrot." |
The Evening Grosbeak is a bright and
conspicuous bird. Such bright colors are usually associated with
tropical birds such as the Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager, or
Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Parrots are almost entirely tropical or
sub-tropical birds; the Evening Grosbeak has sometimes been called the
English Parrot, on account of its plumage, big beak, and occasional
feeding habits. However, the Evening Grosbeak is anything but a tropical
bird. It is a bird of northern and western forests. Its range straddles
the U.S.-Canadian border. How then does it come to be so colorful?
The
answer is found in the Evening Grosbeak’s original homeland in the
Northwest. Arthur Bent in his 1968 life history of the western Evening
Grosbeak writes that it “is largely a bird of the higher altitudes
whose plumage is a blending, a chiaroscuro, of the high-lights and
shadows of the great hills.” He cites Enid Michael who wrote from
Yosemite in 1926: “The Evening Grosbeak ... furnishes a splendid example
of protective coloring in birds. It is brilliantly colored white,
yellow, black and olive. It would seem to be one of the most conspicuous
of high Sierran birds. Yet its brightest color is almost identical with
the lemon color of the lichens found throughout our high Sierra.”
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| Evening Grosbeak, female |
Another writer in 1902 wrote: “While watching the
birds on Mt. Shasta one day, I was struck by the conspicuousness of one
that flew across an open space. As it lit on a dead stub whose silvery
branches were touched with yellow lichen, to my amazement it simply
vanished. Its peculiar greenish yellow toned in perfectly with the
greenish yellow of the lichen.”
These accounts remind
me that when driving our dirt roads in the summer time, I have seen the
gravely road in front of me suddenly burst into flight. Evening
Grosbeaks, picking up grit and salt, blended into the roadway until my
vehicle came to close. Then at the last moment, they flew.
The
Evening Grosbeak is a big, stocky finch with a bearing that makes me
think of a pugnacious street fighter. But appearances are deceiving.
When food is plentiful, most observers use adjectives like quiet,
sedentary, gentle, and unafraid. When unmolested, they can become almost
tame. They approach backyard feeders from a high perch, where they
check things out before coming in to share freely with others birds.
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| Courtship display by male Evening Grosbeak |
As conspicuous as the Evening Grosbeak is when
present, comparatively little is known about its life history. During
the breeding season, it is secretive. It prefers mature, open-canopy
mixed forests. It builds a flimsy nest high in a tree, a practice which
makes it very difficult to study. So ... when I spend a sultry summer
day sitting on my back porch, I am not just idling away my time when
its too hot to do anything else. I am doing research. I am observing the
Evening Grosbeaks.
Good birding!
