Species: Pheucticus melanocephalus
Black-headed Grosbeak
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Cardinalidae
Genus
Pheucticus
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Picogordo Tigrillo - cardinal à tête noire
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Cardinalidae - Pheucticus - Where ranges overlap in Great Plains, hybridizes with P. LUDOVICIANUS (AOU 1998). Although regarded as conspecific by a few authors, they are properly regarded as constituting a superspecies (AOU 1998).
Ecology and Life History
Migration
true - true - true - Breeding populations in U.S. are long-distance migrants, move south for winter. Males arrive in north in spring about a week before females arrive.
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Feeds on insects, spiders, berries, seeds, and buds. Forages in the crowns of deciduous trees; also forages in shrubs and on the ground.
Reproduction Comments
Clutch size typically is 3-4. Incubation, by both parents, lasts 12-13 days. Altricial young are tended by both parents, leave nest in 9-12 days. See Hill (1988) for information on reproduction in New Mexico.
Ecology Comments
Both the male and female defend their nesting territory against other breeding pairs. Jays are primary nest predators in New Mexico (Hill 1988).
Length
21
Weight
47
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-12-03
Global Status Last Changed
1996-12-03
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S2&CA.BC=S5&CA.SK=S4&US.AL=__&US.AZ=S5&US.AR=__&US.CA=SNR&US.CO=S4&US.ID=S5&US.KS=S3&US.MT=S5&US.NN=S4&US.NE=S5&US.NV=S4&US.NJ=__&US.NM=S5&US.ND=SNR&US.OK=__&US.OR=S5&US.SD=S5&US.TX=S4&US.UT=S4&US.WA=S5&US.WY=S4" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
BREEDS: southwestern British Columbia, east to southwestern Saskatchewan, northeastern Montana, northwestern North Dakota, south along Pacific coast to northern Baja California, central and southeastern Arizona, eastern New Mexico and south into mainland of Mexico; east to central Nebraska, central Kansas, western Oklahoma, western Texas. WINTERS: in Mexico (Terres 1980).