Watch Queue Queue When it comes to nesting, the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak favors Maple, Birch, and Hemlock trees. Photo: Norm Dougan/Great Backyard Bird Count. More dramatic, however, was the decline in the proportion of FeederWatch sites reporting Evening Grosbeaks. The drab, striped female, however, is more of a challenge, resembling a large sparrow or finch. They're big, bold, beautiful, and big piggies at your bird feeder – if you are lucky enough to have them. Pine and evening grosbeaks are finches; the others are in the cardinal family. Evening Grosbeak. They breed in forests across the very northern areas of the U.S., in Canada, and across higher elevations of the West. The record for the oldest evening grosbeak is a male that was banded in 1959 in Connecticut. Songbird Without A Song Monogamous pairs of evening grosbeaks court quietly. A good year can bring Evening Grosbeaks to Massachusetts, Common Redpolls to South Dakota, and White-winged Crossbills to Ohio. It was the evening grosbeak, hands down; or maybe fingers down! Flikr CC licensed photo by Jean-Guy Dallaire. These seasonal movements, or irruptions, occur during the fall and winter. For those hoping to attract an evening grosbeak to their feeder, black oil sunflower seeds are one of their preferred foods. Evening Grosbeaks are social and somewhat nomadic; flocks may wander widely in response to changing food supplies. If you don’t have luck bringing them into your own yard, try taking a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where they are much more regularly seen in most winters. French-speakers named this bird more appropriately le gros-bec errant, the wandering grosbeak. The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, boldly patterned in black, white, and rose, is easily identified. They named it Evening Grosbeak in the mistaken belief that it came out of the woods to sing only after sundown. Use a location inside or on the outskirts of a … When Evening Grosbeaks were seen at feeders, project participants on average saw more individuals at one time from 1989 to 1994 than from 2001 to 2006. They can irrupt down into much of the lower U.S. during non-breeding, especially when their food availability is less. For the Birds - Your guide to bird feeders, bird houses, bird baths, hummingbird feeders, hummingbird food, bird seed, and more to attract birds. Luckily, there’s already a … Well, after handling a few male evening grosbeaks he knew which ones took the prize for worst finger biters! Evening Grosbeaks are fond of maple seeds and especially box elder seeds—when people in Duluth tell me that they just can’t seem to attract grosbeaks to their feeders, they invariably don’t have box elders in their neighborhood. Common Redpoll. I live in northern New England and … Does anyone have any advice on how to attract either common redpolls or evening grosbeaks to a winter feeder.