Appearance: Blue grosbeaks are medium birds about 8″ long, large, bright blue, with large silver bills, and chestnut wingbars. The female’s primary color is light cinnamon with darker-colored wings.
Diet: Insects, seeds, and grains.
Feeder food: Grain and birdseed.
Habitat: Thick shrubbery and areas with tall trees.
Nesting:
- Nest: Small cup-shaped nest of twigs and miscellaneous organic materials resting in low-lying trees, shrubs, and bushes.
- Brood: 1-2 broods/season
- Clutch: 3-5 eggs/brood
- Egg color: Pale blue to white with occasional brown spots
- Egg size: 0.8 inches by 0.7 inches
- Incubation: 12-13 days incubation.
Migration: Blue grosbeaks are migrators. In spring, they migrate north into the US to breed and raise their young. Then in the fall, they head back south for the winter. There is a small area in Mexico they call their year-round home. The birds in this area don’t typically migrate.
Year-round range: Parts of Mexico.
Breeding range: Southern half of the US as well as North Dakota, South Dakota, and Kansas.
Winter range: Mexico and the Caribbean islands.
Range Map
