The handsome black-headed grosbeak is the western counterpart to the East’s rose-breasted grosbeak, and the 2 even occasionally hybridize where they come into contact in the western Great Plains.

Pine grosbeaks are fancy finches, while the evening, rose-breasted, black-headed and blue grosbeaks are all related to ...

Males in most plumages unmistakable. Plumage of females and first-fall males is very similar to plumage of female black-headed grosbeak. Call: a sharp eek, squeakier than the black-headed’s.

In mid-summer, the oak woodlands often resound with the insistent whining whistle of young Black-headed Grosbeaks begging for food. This is among few birds able to eat Monarch butterflies, despite the ...

like an improved version of the American Robin's voice -- is heard frequently in spring and summer. Where the range of this species overlaps with that of the Black-headed Grosbeak on the Great Plains, ...