Feather Friday Part 3

The third bird in our Feather Friday series is the Black-headed Grosbeak. It is a common and familiar bird of the American West. It can be found in the mountain forests, along desert streams, or in backyards and gardens. In the winter, it flies to Mexico. The Black-headed Grosbeak is a large, stocky finch. The male and female differ greatly in their plumage, with the male being a flashy black, white, and cinnamon, and the female a drab buff and brown. It likes to eat insects,caterpillars,seeds, berries and fruit. It picks at the bread I throw on the lawn, but does not particularly like it. The female Grosbeak lays three to four light blue or green eggs with red brown spots. They are laid in a loosely built stick nest lined with rootlets, grass, and leaves, and built among dense foliage on an outer tree limb. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by both parents.