Cooperative Living September 2017 - 26

FeatheredFriends | Story and Artwork by Spike Knuth, Contributing Columnist
Blue Grosbeak
I
haven't seen many blue grosbeaks, but
those I have seen were in widespread
locations: Radford Arsenal in Pulaski
County, the White Oak Mountain Wildlife
Management Area (WMA) in Pittsylvania
County, the James River State Park in
Buckingham County, and the Hog Island
WMA in Surry County.
Once regarded as strictly a southern
bird, since the late 1800s and early 1900s
its range has expanded northward,
especially along the Atlantic coast. One
theory is that the clearing of forest lands
resulted in more suitable open-land
habitat for them.
Birds, mammals, plants, fish and other
flora and fauna are opportunists. When
we change the landscape, the types and
diversity of species may be altered. Some
species will slowly disappear with the
change while others will begin to show
up to take advantage of habitat more
suitable to them. So I discovered as I
drove through James River State Park
some years back, right after it was first
opened. It was early September and a
number of unmowed fields were rich
with growth of ironweed, teasel,
sneezeweed, tickseed sunflower, blackeyed
Susans, horse nettle, goldenrod
and numerous other plants, plus grasses
of many varieties.
As I drove through some of the areas, I
saw a flash of blue; a blue grosbeak. Later,
the assistant park superintendent and a
wildlife biologist working that day raved
about what a great place it was to see birds,
and the biologist told me that the blue
grosbeaks had taken a special liking to the
Quail Habitat Management Program-area
in the park. The biologist had found five
blue grosbeak nests in that area.
Then I remembered the blue grosbeaks
I had seen at White Oak Mountain WMA.
They were taking a liking to the quailmanagement
habitat at that location.
The blue grosbeak favors open brushy
fields with low-growing trees, thickets
or woodland edges, streamside shrubs,
fallow fields and croplands as well as
transmission-line and pipeline corridors.
24 | Cooperative Living | September 2017
Once a
Southern
Bird
Blue grosbeaks are somewhat shy and secretive, moving about slowly and methodically while feeding.
Actually, the blue grosbeak is more
closely related to the buntings, although
larger, at about 7 inches long, and with a
larger head and a large, heavier bill. The
male's colors are similar to the indigo
bunting: a deep, dull blue with dusky
back, wing and tail feathers, which may be
edged in blue. Its middle wing coverts are
chestnut and it has cinnamon-rufous wing
bars. Sometimes these will look black,
depending on how the sunlight is
reflecting off the bird.
The female is basically olive-brown or
grayish-brown, with a brownish back and
some blue showing on the rump and tail.
Its underparts are buffy brown or claycolored,
deeper on the chest, with a pale to
whitish throat and abdomen. It has two
buffy wing bars and resembles a female
cowbird, a bird that does parasitize the
grosbeaks' nests.
Blue grosbeaks like the
quail-management habitat
at wildlife-management
areas. The blue grosbeak
favors open brushy fields
with low-growing trees,
thickets or woodland
edges, streamside shrubs,
fallow fields and croplands,
as well as transmission line
and pipeline corridors.
Male grosbeaks arrive in April and
May before the females and begin to
establish their nesting territories. Once
mated, females mainly build a nest of
dried grasses, plant fibers, dry leaves,
strips of paper, cloth and occasionally a
discarded snakeskin. The nest is lined
with fine grasses and horsehair or fur
from other animals.
The nest is placed in low-growing
thicket near the ground, or maybe in a
tree up to 30 feet high, or suspended
between two tall stalks of vegetation like
ironweed or goldenrod. About three to
five eggs are laid, which are blue to light
blue or almost white. While the female
incubates the eggs, the male will perch
atop a tall shrub nearby singing, but
often sitting motionless. The song is
described as a sweet, rapid warble
similar to the house finch's or purple
finch's, but slower and deeper. Its call
note is a sharp " chink, " its flight calls a
rough " buzz. " Incubation takes 12 to 15
days, and young are fledged in another
nine or 10 days.
Blue grosbeaks are somewhat shy
and secretive, moving about slowly
and methodically while feeding. They
have a habit of flicking their tails and
spreading them. When startled or
excited they may raise their crest
feathers.
They normally forage on the ground
or in low-growing vegetation for weevils,
grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, cicadas,
caterpillars, cutworms and other prey. In
fallow fields they'll feed on all manner of
seeds and will feed on grains such as
corn, wheat and alfalfa.
After the breeding season they may
gather briefly in small groups and move
into these fields and croplands. But
for the most part, by the end of
September, they are quickly off to their
wintering grounds over the Gulf of
Mexico to South and Central America
and many islands of the West Indies
and Cuba. Their lighter-colored
western counterpart migrates over
land through Mexico. 
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Cooperative Living September 2017

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