- Passerina caerulea
Formerly - Guiraca caerulea
Identification
L. 6 3/4" (17 cm)
Male:
- Dark blue
- Rusty wing bars
- Large beak
- Black face
Female:
- Buffy brown
- Rusty wing-bars
Immature Similar to female, but 1st winter birds are more rufous.
Similar Species
This large Cardinaline Bunting is often mistaken for an Indigo Bunting, which does not have the rusty 'shoulders' seen as wing bars in flight, or the large beak as indicated by the name: grosbeak. Females are buffy brown with rusty colored median coverts.
Distribution
Southern United States north to central California, South Dakota, southern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. Casual north of regular range. Winters south to Panama.
Taxonomy
Polytypic. Consists of seven subspecies: 1
- P. c. caerulea (Linnaeus, 1758)
- P. c. chiapensis (Nelson, 1898)
- P. c. deltarhyncha (Van Rossem, 1938)
- P. c. eurhyncha (Coues, 1874)
- P. c. interfusa (Dwight & Griscom, 1927)
- P. c. lazula (Lesson, 1842)
- P. c. salicaria (Grinnell, 1911)
Habitat
Shrubby fields, open habitat with scattered trees, scrub, thickets, cultivated lands, woodland edges, overgrown fields, hedgerows.
Behaviour
The diet includes insects, snails, spiders, seeds, grains, and fruits. Its large bill can manage large seeds, like corn, and large insects like grasshoppers.
The nest is built low in small trees and shrubs. It is a compact cup of bark, rootlets, twigs, and other fibrous material. 3-5 pale blue eggs, incubation takes 11-12 days, followed by fledging at 9-10 days. Blue Grosbeak nests are sometimes parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds.
