Blue Grosbeak

Scientific Name: Passerina caerulea

Range / Habitat: Found in forest edge, costal scrub, second growth and similar. Winters in southern Mexico, including Yucatan, down through Central American, and many Caribbean islands. Summers in northern Mexico and southern US.

Field Notes: Large, bright blue passerine with an enormous slate-colored bill and chestnut wing bars. Indigo Bunting much smaller overall and smaller bill.

Personal Notes: We captured the essential parts for identification in this photo from El Rey ruins in Cancun, Mexico.

Pyrrhuloxia

Scientific Name: Cardinalis sinuatus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid scrubland of southwestern US and northern Mexico.

Field Notes: "The cardinal of the desert," but grey plumage tinged with red.

Personal Notes: Seen in the San Pedro River Riparian Area near Hereford AZ.

Indigo Bunting

Scientific Name: Passerina cyanea

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Winters in southern Mexico, Central America, and Carribbean. Summers in temperate forest in eastern North America.

Field Notes: Medium-sized perching bird. Male all blue with black wing ends, black eye and silver, conical beak. Female and non-breeding males drab brown, darker above than below.

Personal Notes: We saw these lovely birds at Fort Snelling without a camera. Years later found them again at the Minnesota Arboretum.

Lazuli Bunting

Scientific Name: Passerina amoena

Population Estimate: 2.3M

Range / Habitat: Shrubby areas throughout the American West in summer. Winters along the Pacific coast of Mexico.

Field Notes: Short, thick bill and two white wing bars. Breeding male as above with bright blue head, black eye mask, red chest, white belly. Female and non breeding male dull. Western Bluebird has thinner bill and lacks wing bars.

Personal Notes: Seen at Antelope Island, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Black-headed Grosbeak

Scientific Name: Pheucticus Melanocephalus

Population Estimate: 4.9M

Range / Habitat: Summer resident of the American West, wintering into northern Mexico. Preferred habitat deciduous and mixed wooded areas, though commonly found in artificial areas and desert thickets.

Field Notes: Stocky songbird with short neck and large conical bill. Male with all black head and cinnamon chest and collar around neck. Black wings with two large, sloppy white wing bars. Female with brown head and wings, white eyebrow stripe, faint rufous wash to chest. Male breeding Baltimore Oriole has little area of overlap, more slender, thin pointed bill, and brighter orange to chest. Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak has little area of overlap and has streaked breast compared to female Black-headed Grosbeak.

Personal Notes:

Mexican Yellow Grosbeak

Scientific Name: Pheucticus Chrysopeplus

Population Estimate: 50K to 500K

Range / Habitat: The Yellow Grosbeak occurs on the Pacific slope of Mexico from central Sonora to northwestern Oaxaca, and in southern Chiapas and Guatemala. In Sonora it is migratory. It has been considered conspecific with P. tibialis of Central America and P. chrysogaster of South America. It occurs mostly in trees in forest, woodland, and edge, but generally not found in dense rain or cloud forest. Occasional vagrants have reached the United States, mostly in summer in Arizona, but it has also been reported from California, Colorado, New Mexico, and even Iowa.

Field Notes: The Yellow Grosbeak (or Mexican Yellow Grosbeak), Pheucticus chrysopeplus. The plumage has bold contrasts of yellow, white, and black or gray. Males' head and underparts are solid yellow—light lemon in most populations, "brilliant golden-orange" (Howell and Webb 1995) in P. c. aurantiacus of Chiapas and Guatemala. The back is black with yellow mottlings, the rump is yellow, and the upper tail coverts are black with white tips. The wings and tail are black with conspicuous white spots, patches, and wingbars. Females are similar but the upperparts are more olive, with dark streaks on the crown and back. Black is replaced by gray, and the white markings on the wings, especially the white base of the primaries, are smaller. Females are very similar in pattern to female Flame-colored Tanagers, but much bigger, especially as to the bill. Immatures resemble females overall.

Personal Notes:

Northern Cardinal

Scientific Name: Cardinalis cardinalis

Population Estimate: 100M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in inhabited areas such as backyards, parks, woodlots, and shrubby forest edges throughout eastern US and eastern Mexico, including the Yucatan.

Field Notes: Unmistakable in range, even the duller female.

Personal Notes: We were waiting for winter to get our dramatic Northern Cardinal photo, and here it is. We were fortunate to come across a lot of different birds at the MN Arboretum feeder.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Scientific Name: Pheucticus ludovicianus

Population Estimate: 4.6M

Range / Habitat: The breeding range of the rose-breasted grosbeak extends from British Colombia in western Canada to the eastern United States. In winter, this species migrates to the southern United States, the Caribbean, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru. It can also sometimes be found as a vagrant in Greenland and parts of Europe.

Field Notes: The Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) is a large insect-eating songbird in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). It is primarily a foliage gleaner. The rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) is a medium-sized, stocky songbird with a beautiful, bold plumage which varies greatly between the sexes. The male rose-breasted grosbeak has gained the name ‘cut-throat’ from its distinctive breeding plumage, which has a vivid pink-red triangle on the breast, strongly contrasting with the black upperparts and white underparts.

Personal Notes: