Our Environment: “A Morning Search for Evening Grosbeaks,” By Scott Turner
Sunday, December 02, 2018
Ornamental pears are hugely popular landscape trees. The pears produce showy white flowers each spring, followed by clusters of small stony fruit in fall that frost softens to the point that songbirds descend upon the “berries” to fatten up.
This was a banner year for the pears, with trees full of fruit. In addition to the American Robins and European Starlings you typically find in the trees, some exceptionally unusual birds are showing up to feed (as well as in crabapples and at bird feeders) in the pears. New England is currently hosting an invasion of winter finches. These northern songbirds move south when there is a poor crop of seeds and berries among boreal birches, mountain ash trees, pines, firs and spruces.
A few days ago, Karen and I drove down to Burlingame State Park in Charlestown, where several Evening Grosbeaks, which may be the most vividly colored of the winter finch species, were seen feeding on fruit of ornamental pears in the park’s campground.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMost winter finches are nomadic. They pop in to chow-down on fruit or seeds, and then they’re gone.
At Burlingame, we were blessed with clear, sunny skies. The air was crisp, with a temperature around 40 degrees. We arrived at roughly 10 a.m., and learned from birdwatchers that three Evening Grosbeaks were seen two hours earlier. The finches fed on some fruit and then vanished.
One birdwatcher suggested that the birds had headed deeper into the park to digest “breakfast,” and would probably return to the pears later in the day.
Meanwhile, the Burlingame pear hosted other feeding birds. For example, about three-dozens American Robins, flew in and out of the trees from perches on tall surrounding oaks.
At one point a Common Raven floated past high overhead. Twice, a sharp-shinned hawk took a pass at the robins. We also heard the uncommon cat-like mewing call of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
The most unusual sighting was that of a Baltimore Oriole. This species winters in Central America. Yet, there in a conifer was a male in yellow-orange and black washed-out winter colors.
Alas, we saw no Evening Grosbeaks during our 90-minute visit. The species lived up to its reputation as a wanderer.
Evening Grosbeaks don’t come around here very often. I’ve never observed one in Rhode Island. In fact I have not seen the species since witnessing a flock of 50-or-so birds clean the sunflower seed off a feeder platform at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, Pa., during the winter of 1982-83.
An Evening Grosbeak looks extravagant. Males are golden yellow, and sport conspicuous black-and-white wings. Females are olive-gray, with a complex black and white wing pattern. Both sexes are stocky, and both feature large triangular bills. The species also produces curious sharp calls and rough chirp-trills.
According to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, “Evening Grosbeaks are numerous and widespread, but populations dropped steeply between 1966 and 2015.” This was especially true in the East, where grosbeak numbers declined by 97 percent.
“Recent declines may be due to logging and other development in the boreal forests of northern North America; to disease outbreaks such as salmonella, West Nile virus, and House Finch eye disease; or to reduced numbers of spruce budworm and other forest insects, in part due to aerial spraying by the U.S. and Canada,” notes the Lab.
“As climate change alters the landscape over the next century, balsam fir is expected to recede from New England, and Evening Grosbeaks may disappear from this region.”
Oy!
Evening Grosbeaks are gregarious, stunning-looking birds with loud calls that carry a long way. They’re also facing some serious threats.
So, let’s give them a warm Rhode Island welcome. Fill those bird feeders with sunflower seeds (favorite of the Evening Grosbeak). Check the local pears. Spy the crabapples. You might get rewarded with a visit from these beautiful nomads of the far north. They will provide you with spectacle and superior outdoor theater during these cold months.
Scott Turner is a Providence-based writer and communications professional. For more than a decade he wrote for the Providence Journal and we welcome him to GoLocalProv.com.
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