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==Distribution and habitat==
==Distribution and habitat==
This is a migratory bird, with nesting grounds across most of the southern half of the United States and much of northern [[Mexico]], migrating south to [[Central America]] and in very small numbers to northern [[South America]]; the southernmost record comes from eastern [[Ecuador]]. It eats mostly insects, but it will also eat snails, spiders, seeds, grains, and wild fruits. The blue grosbeak forages on the ground and in shrubs and trees.
This is a migratory bird, with nesting grounds across most of the southern half of the United States and much of northern [[Mexico]], migrating south to [[Central America]] and in very small numbers to northern [[South America]]; the southernmost record comes from eastern [[Ecuador]].


This species is found in partly open habitat with scattered trees, riparian woodland, scrub, thickets, cultivated lands, woodland edges, overgrown fields, or hedgerows. It nests in a low tree or bush or a tangle of vegetation, usually about {{convert|1|–|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} above ground, often at the edge of an open area.
This species is found in partly open habitat with scattered trees, riparian woodland, scrub, thickets, cultivated lands, woodland edges, overgrown fields, or hedgerows.

==Behaviour and ecology==
===Breeding===
The blue grosbeak nests in a low tree or bush or a tangle of vegetation, usually about {{convert|1|–|2.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} above ground, often at the edge of an open area.<ref name=bent>{{ cite book | last1=Bent | first1=Arthur Cleveland | author-link=Arthur Cleveland Bent | last2=Austin | first2=Oliver L. Jr. | year=1968 | title=Life Histories of North American Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Buntings, Towhees, Finches, Sparrows, and Allies | volume=Part 1 | series=Bulletin of the United States National Museum 237 | location=Washington DC | publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press | doi=10.5479/si.03629236.237.1 | doi-access=free | pages=67-80 }}</ref>

===Feeding===
It eats mostly insects, but it will also eat snails, spiders, seeds, grains, and wild fruits. The blue grosbeak forages mainly on the ground.<ref name=bow>{{cite web | last1=Lowther | first1=P.E. | last2=Ingold | first2=J.L. | year=2020 | title=Blue Grosbeak (''Passerina caerulea''), version 1.0 | editor-last=Poole | editor-first=A.F. | work=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | url=https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blugrb1.01 | accessdate=25 September 2020 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>


<gallery widths="154px" heights="200px" perrow="3" caption="Gallery" align=center>
<gallery widths="154px" heights="200px" perrow="3" caption="Gallery" align=center>

Revision as of 11:53, 25 September 2020

Blue grosbeak
Adult male
Adult female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cardinalidae
Genus: Passerina
Species:
P. caerulea
Binomial name
Passerina caerulea
Synonyms
  • Loxia caerulea Linnaeus, 1758
  • Guiraca caerulea (Linnaeus, 1758)

The blue grosbeak (Passerina caerulea), is a medium-sized seed-eating bird in the same family as the northern cardinal, "tropical" or New World buntings, and "cardinal-grosbeaks" or New World grosbeaks.

Taxonomy

The blue grosbeak was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia caerulea.[2] The specific epithet caerulea is the Latin word for "blue", "azure-blue", "sky-blue" or "dark-blue".[3] Linnaeus based his own description on the "blew gross-beak" described and illustrated by Mark Catesby in his "The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands". Catesby's book had been published in 1729-1732.[4] Catesby gave the location as Carolina and Linnaeus specified America. The type location is now restricted to South Carolina.[5]

The blue grosbeak was for many years often placed in its own monotypic genus Guiraca. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2001 that compared mitochondrial DNA sequences found that the blue grosbeak, in spite of being physically larger, nested within the Passerina and was most closely related to the lazuli bunting.[6] The species is therfore now placed in Passerina, a genus that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1816.[7][8]

Seven subspecies are recognised:[8]

  • P. c. caerulea (Linnaeus, 1758) – southeast and south central USA
  • P. c. interfusa (Dwight & Griscom, 1927) – west central USA and north Mexico
  • P. c. salicaria (Grinnell, 1911) – southwest USA and northwest Mexico
  • P. c. eurhyncha (Coues, 1874) – central and south Mexico
  • P. c. chiapensis (Nelson, 1898) – south Mexico to Guatemala
  • P. c. deltarhyncha (Van Rossem, 1938) – west Mexico
  • P. c. lazula (Lesson, R, 1842) – south Guatemala to northwest Costa Rica

Description

The male blue grosbeak is deep blue, with both black and brown on its wings. The female is mostly brown. Both sexes are distinguished by their large, deep bill and double wing bars. These features, as well as the grosbeak's relatively larger size, distinguish this species from the indigo bunting. Length can range from 14 to 19 cm (5.5 to 7.5 in) and wingspan is from 26 to 29 cm (10 to 11 in).[9][10] Body mass is typically from 26 to 31.5 g (0.92 to 1.11 oz).[11]

Distribution and habitat

This is a migratory bird, with nesting grounds across most of the southern half of the United States and much of northern Mexico, migrating south to Central America and in very small numbers to northern South America; the southernmost record comes from eastern Ecuador.

This species is found in partly open habitat with scattered trees, riparian woodland, scrub, thickets, cultivated lands, woodland edges, overgrown fields, or hedgerows.

Behaviour and ecology

Breeding

The blue grosbeak nests in a low tree or bush or a tangle of vegetation, usually about 1–2.5 m (3.3–8.2 ft) above ground, often at the edge of an open area.[12]

Feeding

It eats mostly insects, but it will also eat snails, spiders, seeds, grains, and wild fruits. The blue grosbeak forages mainly on the ground.[13]

  • Gallery
  • Male (upper), female (lower)
    Male (upper), female (lower)
  • Blue Grosbeak in Birds of America
    Blue Grosbeak in Birds of America

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2012). "Passerina caerulea". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  2. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. Volume 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 175. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. ^ Catesby, Mark (1729–1732). The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (in English and French). Vol. Volume 1. London: W. Innys and R. Manby. p. 39, Plate 39. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  5. ^ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. Volume 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 241. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  6. ^ Klicka, J.; Fry, A.J.; Zink, R.M.; Thompson, C.W. (2001). "A cytochrome-b perspective on Passerina bunting relationships". Auk. 118 (3): 610–623. doi:10.1093/auk/118.3.610.
  7. ^ Vieillot, Louis Jean Pierre (1816). Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Elementaire (in French). Paris: Deterville/self. p. 30.
  8. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Cardinals, grosbeaks and (tanager) allies". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Blue Grosbeak".
  10. ^ "eNature: FieldGuides: Species Detail". Archived from the original on 2012-02-22.
  11. ^ CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), ISBN 978-0849342585.
  12. ^ Bent, Arthur Cleveland; Austin, Oliver L. Jr. (1968). Life Histories of North American Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Buntings, Towhees, Finches, Sparrows, and Allies. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 237. Vol. Part 1. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 67–80. doi:10.5479/si.03629236.237.1.
  13. ^ Lowther, P.E.; Ingold, J.L. (2020). Poole, A.F. (ed.). "Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea), version 1.0". Birds of the World. Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
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