Blue Grosbeak

Guiraca caeruleaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Cardinals and Grosbeaks (Cardinalidae)
Blue Grosbeak Portrait_2
  Splitbar
Range Map for Blue Grosbeak

Overview

Blue Grosbeak: Large finch, bright purple-blue body, black face, and two wide, brown wingbars. Dark wings, tail. Hops on ground to forage. Gleans from bushes, weeds and trees. Feeds on insects, snails, grains, seeds and fruits. Swift flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

Range and Habitat

Blue Grosbeak: Breeds from California, Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, and New Jersey southward and spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include brushy, moist pastures, and roadside thickets.

Splitbar

Listen:

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Voice Text

"pink"

Splitbar

Related Birds:

Dickcissel
Indigo Bunting
Lazuli Bunting
Painted Bunting
Mountain Bluebird
Varied Bunting
Blue Bunting
.

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Family Cardinals and Grosbeaks (Cardinalidae)_blue
Species Guiraca caerulea
Length6.25 - 7.5 Inches
Wingspan11 Inches

Blue Grosbeak

Blue Grosbeak: Large finch, bright purple-blue body, black face, and two wide, brown wingbars. Dark wings, tail. Hops on ground to forage. Gleans from bushes, weeds and trees. Feeds on insects, snails, grains, seeds and fruits. Swift flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

● Song: "pink"

● Foraging & Feeding: Blue Grosbeak: Diet consists mostly of insects and seeds gleaned from the ground; occasionally eats fruits. Flocks sometimes feed in grain fields or grasslands before migration.

● Breeding & nesting: Blue Grosbeak: Three to five light blue eggs, sometimes marked with brown, are laid in a loose cup of grass, weed stems, and leaves concealed in a clump of weeds. Incubation ranges from 11 to 12 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Blue Grosbeak: Indigo Bunting is smaller and lacks brown wingbars.

Flight Pattern

Swift flight with rapid wing beats.
Blue Grosbeak Body Illustration_2
● Range & Habitat: Blue Grosbeak: Breeds from California, Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, and New Jersey southward and spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include brushy, moist pastures, and roadside thickets.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationUncommon to fairly common
MigrationMigratory
Weight1 Ounces