Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus)

(Fig. 01)

07/10/2013 Picture Notes: I found this little fellow (Fig. 01) perching on a treelike shrub above some dense underbrush in a fenced field about a hundred yards north of the upper pond that is just south of the town of Cold Creek Nevada. I want to thank all those who sent info and helped me try and identify this bird; though it was fellow hiker, Mabel Quinto, who nailed it as a female Black-headed Grosbeak. The one thing I have learned going through this identification process is that there can hundreds of variations within a specific species depending upon the age, sex and time of year, including such things as beak size, shape and color, plumage, overall size, etc. Description: The Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) is a medium-size, seed-eating songbird with a large head, short neck and a short dark grayish bill that is conical and thick at the base, typically bicolored. The male is striking, with a black head, rusty-orange breast, nape, and rump, black back, wings, and tail, and white patches on its wings. The under-wing linings are yellow, and the outer tail feathers are white; both of these can be seen in flight. In contrast, the female (shown above) is more drab, has a dark crown, a white line above the eye and below the cheek, a brown head, neck and back with sparrow-like black streaks. Its underparts are a dull orange with thin streaks on its  flanks; but also has yellow under-wing linings. Her wings and tail are greyish-brown with two white wing bars on each wing and yellowish wing edges. First-year males are streaked like females but have more orangery underparts. In flight, they flash bright yellow under the wings. Black-headed Grosbeaks range from the Pacific coast to the middle of the US Great Plains and from south western Canada to the mountains of Mexico. The sweet song of the Black-headed Grosbeak can be heard caroling down from the treetops like a tipsy robin welcoming spring. The less flamboyant females sing from perches in tall shrubs and trees and desert thickets. Look for Black-headed Grosbeaks in mixed woodlands and edges from mountain forests to thickets along desert streams and ponds. Ideal habitat includes some large trees and a diverse under-story with ready access to water (exactly the habitat where the above sighting was made). They avoid monotonous stretches of unbroken dry chaparral, desert, grassland, or dense coniferous forests. Their food is quite varied. Heavy seeds are easily cracked open with their huge beaks; although sometimes they pose a problem in fruit orchards, Black-headed Grosbeaks also consume harmful insects and are highly valuable to farmers. Though similar, females of  finches (House Finch, Cassin’s Finch, Purple Finch) have considerably smaller bills, more uniform brown streaking, less white in the wings, and lack the female Black-headed Grosbeak’s buffy breast.