Beak of the Week: All Grosbeaks Are Not the Same

Since I am late with last week’s entry, this is a bonus edition with not one but two birds.

Photo one is a black-headed grosbeak and photo two is an evening grosbeak. 

While these birds are categorized the same way, they’re actually in different families. The first is in the cardinal family, while the second is in the finch family. 

Both have a parrot-like squawk and, though not really gross, a pretty huge beak for a small bird. 

They frequent Washington bird feeders in the spring and summer and the females of both kinds have very subdued plumage and are easy to mistake for other birds.

Previous beaks of the week so far have been the American goldfinch, song sparrow and the turkey vulture. 

You can find those at chronline.com by searching “Beak of the Week.”