Rose Breasted Grosbeak Question!!! (1 Viewer)

[m1e1b1s1]

Hello all...

new here....

We've been having a wonderful time this spring/summer watching our birds...I also do daycare, and my children are having a ball with it, identifying, watching, feeding etc.

We are newbies....have a book, have identified most of them...but are perplexed with what we saw last night!

My husband and I were watching "our" rose breasted grosbeak feeding (he had not visited in a couple of weeks) and noticed he would feed, and fly into the tree next to the feeder (the feeder is in a garden and the tree is a combination of crab apple and something else that flowers...it's spliced together and growing together).

We watched him do this for a while.....then noticed a flutter in the tree, so I grabbed the binocs and looked closer.....it was a female, and what he was doing is feeding her....I hadn't seen that behavior before.

Why was he doing this?

I can't find anything online to answer this question!

She even moved to another tree, when he moved to another feeder in another garden.

It was amazing to watch! But we would LOVE an answer if anyone has one!!!

Thanks....I'm trying to get a good picture of him, he is gorgeous!

 

[KC Foggin]

I'm fairly certain it was feeding a youngster and aren't you the lucky one

Hello there and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

 

[m1e1b1s1]

Hi there! Thanks for the welcome and reply!

It was definitely a female, unless the youngsters don't get their colors yet (yeah....that new to this), and I found it just amazing to watch! In the book the pic of the female looked just like the one it was feeding. The kids took over the binocs though....so I only got a quick look at it. We were so amazed I dragged our 16 YO daughter out and our son.....

I have found through my searching that it seems rare to even have a rose breasted grosbeak...is that so? Just this afternoon I was telling my sister in law about him, 5 minutes later she goes "wow, he's beautiful" and there he was....on the feeder!

We've been blessed with cardinals, two buntings, gold finches, you name it...and we've identified 7 different hummers this year as well. I'm hoping they all stick around or come back!

 

[KC Foggin]

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is fairly common in your area during the summer months.

Juveniles will often look very plain and sometimes look even larger than the parent. I'm still fairly certain there is probably a nest nearby so keep the feeders full. They love black-oiled sunflower seeds

 

[steveo]

I agree with KC it is a juvie and both juvie sexes could pass for female.

 

[danehower]

This could be "mate feeding" - many birds do it during courtship to reinforce or establish mating bonds. Northern Cardinals are amazing in this regard as the male and females will offer food to each other -not to mention many other speicies. It is all about love it seems. lol - or as said above it could just be a parent trying to quell a juvies hunger...!

 

[Dave B Smith]

Hello m1e1b1s1,
And another welcome to the Birdforum. Sounds like you've got a good crowd at your feeders!

 

[birderbf]

If you consult your field guide and check very carefully to see how the youngster's plumage varies from the adult females, you might find your answer. If not, watch these things:

I have noticed that often when being fed, baby birds (full-sized though) often tremble their wings and call for their parent, especially when the parent is flying toward them.

And when they call, look at their mouth - for a while baby birds have a yellow "gape", which basically means they look like their wearing yellow lipstick, especially at the corners of the mouth. This yellow just helps make sure the parent shoves the food into the right spot (just in case! ).

 

[Tero]

The babies are pretty obvious for a week or so. They appear helpless and clueless, no matter what species.

 

[YellowBudgie]

This could be "mate feeding" - many birds do it during courtship to reinforce or establish mating bonds. Northern Cardinals are amazing in this regard as the male and females will offer food to each other -not to mention many other speicies. It is all about love it seems. lol - or as said above it could just be a parent trying to quell a juvies hunger...!

I saw my first Rose-breasted Grosbeak last weekend. I've never seen them at our feeders for the 3 years we have had them up. I saw the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at a Arboretum which had a nature walk with bird feeders in the deep woods. They were beautiful birds.

I was also lucky to see a Red Belly Woodpecker Dad feeding his young one high up in a tree. The male woodpecker was even communicating with the young one or the mother by tapping a message on the tube feeders side every time he went for seed. Very neat to see.

A little off subject. My budgie would try to feed me often when playing. He loved getting his break lightly tapped with your finger nail. It mimicked how two birds would tap/touch beaks. I miss my little guy. He's the budgie in my avatar photo.

See ya,

 

[steveo]

That is a cute Budgie Budgie.

 

[EvieG]

Rose-breasted Grosbeak babies

Hi, I wanted to add my info. I have several adults around our feeder all the time but about 4 days ago, one pair showed up with their babies, I have 3 female babies who are sitting on the railing shaking their wings and crying for food. Both parents have been feeding them for days. The babies are shaky flying near the house, they've had a couple of close calls with the kitchen wall which is near the bird feeder.

I also have Hairy Woodpeckers who feed here, last week a baby showed up and mum and dad have been feeding her. We have oranges set up for the Baltimore Orioles and the male woodpecker has be feeding the baby the oranges, we're going through them twice as fast now because the Grosbeaks have also decided the oranges are good. For the first month the oranges were out there only the Orioles were eating them. This has been an exciting season.

 

[YellowBudgie]

Hi, I wanted to add my info. I have several adults around our feeder all the time but about 4 days ago, one pair showed up with their babies, I have 3 female babies who are sitting on the railing shaking their wings and crying for food. Both parents have been feeding them for days. The babies are shaky flying near the house, they've had a couple of close calls with the kitchen wall which is near the bird feeder.

I also have Hairy Woodpeckers who feed here, last week a baby showed up and mum and dad have been feeding her. We have oranges set up for the Baltimore Orioles and the male woodpecker has be feeding the baby the oranges, we're going through them twice as fast now because the Grosbeaks have also decided the oranges are good. For the first month the oranges were out there only the Orioles were eating them. This has been an exciting season.

Hi EvieG,

The little ones doing the wing shake for food makes me smile every time I see it. Sounds like your having a nice colorful year.

Enjoy watching the little ones!