Blue Grosbeak Call, Song, Diet, Habitat, And Personality. Hey friends, how are you all? Today we talk about the Blue Grosbeak song, range, call, diet, habitat, behavior, and personality. These beautiful medium-sized colorful songbirds are also from North America, like the pine siskin. It is a migratory bird and mostly migrates in winter and after the breeding season. So friends, let’s get started with today’s topic.
Blue Grosbeak Call, Song, Diet, Habitat, And Personality.
General Information.
Common Name: Blue Breasted Grosbeak, Azulillo Grande (Spanish) Guiraca bleu (French)
Scientific Name: Passerina caerulea
Size: 14 To 19 cm
Weight: 26 To 31.5 grams
Wingspan: 26 To 29 cm
Lifespan: 6 Years
Family: Cardinal
Geographic Range.
The blue grosbeak range is across North America to South America. This is a migratory bird; during winter, these beautiful birds are found in Central America, and the breeding season is found in northern Mexico and the southern United States. Blue grosbeak bird is found in many countries like the Bahamas, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico. They are also found in Nicaragua, Panama, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, United States, Barbados, Jamaica.
Behavior.
Blue grosbeak behavior is territorial and defends a territory of 2-20 acres during the breeding season. These beautiful birds are social and gather in flocks to feed. These birds migrate in flocks. These beautiful birds are monogamous. Males reach on the breeding grounds before females. They spend most of their time foraging in shrubs, trees, and on the ground. Blue grosbeaks communicate with each other by producing different sounds and calls. Only the males sing the songs, especially during the breeding season, to impress the females.
Habitat.
Blue Grosbeaks breed in southern North America, west in central California, and in the interior United States in North Dakota. During the breeding season, the Blue Grosbeak habitat in brushy fields, young second-growth woods, and semi-open countries, including woodland edges, is a hedgerow. In the Southwest, they mostly build their nest near water in mesquite groves and streamside thickets. In the winter season, these beautiful bird habitats in Central America and Mexico.
Diet.
Blue grosbeaks are carnivores, and they mostly eat insects, especially crickets and grasshoppers. These beautiful birds also eat snails, spiders, grains, seeds, and wild fruits. In insects, the Blue grosbeak diet is beetles, bugs, cicadas, caterpillars, and treehoppers. Their grain diet is seeds of panicgrass, bristlegrass, oats, rice, corn, wheat, and alfalfa.
Nesting Habits And Breeding.
Blue grosbeak breeding season is April to late August. They mostly build their nest on a small tree, bush, or tangle of vegetation. Their nest is 1 to 3 meters above the ground and. When the breeding season starts, males sing a beautiful song to impress females. After that, when they find their mate, the females build their nest. Blue grosbeak nesting material is grass, twigs, leaves, and animal hair. After the nest completion female blue grosbeak lays 3 to 5 Pale blue to white, rarely spotted with brown eggs. Only the blue grosbeak female incubates the eggs for 12 to 13 days. On the other hand, males sing their song to protect their territory and feed the females during incubation. After hatching eggs, their chicks are primarily fed by females for the next 9 to 10 days.
Clutch Size: 3 To 5 eggs
Egg Size: Length(1.9 To 2.4 cm) Width (1.6 To 1.7 cm)
Egg Color: Pale blue to white, rarely spotted with brown
Incubation Period: 12 To 13 Days
Nestling Period: 9 To 10 Days
Breeding Season: April to late August
Colors And Markings.
This beautiful bird looks like an Indigo Bunting, especially males, because of its blue color. These beautiful birds are dimorphic, meaning males and females have different colors. It’s very easy to identify males and females because of their appearance. Males have deep blue color bodies with a small black mask on their eyes. They have chestnut wingbars, and their beak color is black-and-silver. On the other hand, females are primarily cinnamon-brown. Their head color is richer than their body color, underparts are paler, and tails are bluish. Both males and females have two wing bars. The upper wingbar has a chestnut color and the lower one has grayish to buffy. Immature Blue Grosbeaks are dark chestnut brown with the chestnut wingbars.
Blue Grosbeak Call, Song, And Sounds.
Unlike the pine grosbeak, blue grosbeak males sing a beautiful musical warble. Like I mentioned above, males sing their songs to impress females. Their songs last for 2 to 3 seconds. Females only produce calls and sounds to communicate with males and other flock birds. Blue Grosbeak produces a loud and metallic chink call. Sometimes they also produce low “buzz bzzt” calls.
Facts.
- Their lifespan can be up to 6 years.
- These beautiful birds belong to the same family as New World buntings, New World grosbeaks, “cardinal-grosbeaks,” and northern cardinals.
- They got their name because of males’ blue plumage and their large beaks.
- They are the closest relatives of Lazuli bunting.
- They are one of the migratory North American birds.
- Their primary diet is insects.
Final Words.
So, friends, we hope you enjoy our article Blue Grosbeak Call, Song, Diet, Habitat, And Personality. Please give us your feedback in the comments.
