Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus Scientific name definitions

This familiar bird, known by its beautiful, bold colors and melodic song, differs sexually in plumage. The distinctive male, with its black-and-white plumage and rose-pink breast, has earned the colorful colloquial name “cut-throat.” The female, in contrast, is striped brown and closely resembles the female western Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus). Despite the dramatically different appearances of males of these 2 closely related species, both have similar songs and behavior and sometimes hybridize where their breeding ranges overlap along river valleys at the edges of the Great Plains.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is relatively common throughout much of eastern and central North America and lives in primary and secondary deciduous and mixed forest and thickets, as well as alongside humans in parks and gardens. It overwinters in Central and South America. As a result of its use of edge and secondary habitats, it is relatively tolerant of human disturbance to habitats. Historically, the species has been considered both a pest, due to its fondness for tree buds, flowers, cultivated peas and fruits, and a beneficial species, as it eats potato beetle larvae, scale insects, and other insects injurious to crops.

Both male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks sing, and both share incubation, brooding, and feeding duties at the nest. The song is similar to that of the American Robin (Turdus migratorius) but is sweeter and more varied, and often interspersed with the grosbeak's distinctive “ chink ” call note. This is one of few species reported to sing while sitting on the nest.

Despite the abundance of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, its life history has not been well-studied. Important anecdotal behavioral studies of captive and wild birds were conducted by Dunham (Dunham 1965 Dunham, D. W. (1965). Agonistic behavior in captive Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Pheucticus ludovicianus). Behaviour 27: 160–173. Close , Dunham 1966a Dunham, D. W. (1966). Maintenance activities of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Wilson Bulletin 78: 68–78. Close , Dunham 1966c Dunham, D. W. (1966). Territorial and sexual behavior in the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 23: 438–451. Close , Dunham 1966b Dunham, D. W. (1966). Reaction to predators in the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Wilson Bulletin 78: 279–282. Close ). Several studies have been carried out on behavior and ecology of this species and the Black-headed Grosbeak in zones of hybridization (West 1962 West, D. A. (1962). Hybridization in grosbeaks (Pheucticus) of the Great Plains. Auk 79: 399–424. Close ; Anderson and Daugherty 1974 Anderson, B. W., and R. J. Daugherty (1974). Characteristics and reproductive biology of grosbeaks (Pheucticus) in the hybrid zone in South Dakota. Wilson Bulletin 86: 1–11. Close ; Kroodsma Kroodsma 1974b Kroodsma, R. L. (1974). Hybridization in grosbeaks (Pheucticus) in North Dakota. Wilson Bulletin 86: 230–236. Close , Kroodsma 1974c Kroodsma, R. L. (1974). Species-recognition behavior of territorial male Rose-breasted and Black-headed grosbeaks (Pheucticus). Auk 91: 54–64. Close ). Several recent studies in Ontario (Friesen et al. 1999c Friesen, L., M. D. Cadman, and R. J. MacKay (1999). Nesting success of neotropical migrant songbirds in a highly fragmented landscape. Conservation Biology 13(2): 338–346. Close , Burke and Nol 2000 Burke, D. M., and E. Nol (2000). Landscape and fragment size effects on reproductive success of forest-breeding birds in Ontario. Ecological Applications 10(6): 1749–1761. Close , Canadian Wildlife Service [CWS] unpubl.) investigated the reproductive success of this species, including the effects of nest parasitism and forest fragmentation, but few quantitative studies of breeding behavior have been published from elsewhere in its range. Francis and Cooke (Francis and Cooke 1990 Francis, C. M., and F. Cooke (1990). Differential timing of spring migration in Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. Journal of Field Ornithology 61: 404–412. Close ) studied the timing of migration, especially in relation to plumage variation in yearling males, while Cook (Cook 1991 Cook, W. E. (1991). Geographic variation in wing length of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Kingbird 41: 145–153. Close ) examined band recoveries and geographic variation in wing chord, but little else has been published on migration routes, dispersal, habitat use, and nutrition during migration and on wintering grounds.