Last week, a loud “chink” call announced the presence of these stocky, colorful, and as the name implies, large-beaked birds to our back yard. A pair of Black-headed Grosbeaks are now camped out on our feeder. Common in the Western U.S. during their summer breeding season, these birds are fueling up for their fall migration back to Baja and Western Mexico.
During their previous Spring Migration, Black-headed Grosbeaks arrived to my back yard on May 13. In the spring they are prolific singers with a florid whistled tune that birders say sounds like a drunken robin. Unlike most songbirds, both male and female Black-headed Grosbeaks sing.
Fortunately, this song should remain in abundance in western forests, wetlands and back yards. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Black-headed Grosbeak is not a declining species, and in fact may be slightly increasing.
The pair I see now are so heavy that they sometimes tip the feeder. I wish them well on their flight to Mexico and hope to see them again next spring.
