Tag Archives: blue grosbeak mid pines rd

Blue Grosbeaks in North Carolina

Great to see another familiar feathered face has made its way back to North Carolina this spring, the Blue Grosbeak!
I photographed this handsome male a few days ago at Mid Pines Rd in Raleigh. He was quite content to chill out on the fence line surveying his territory. Every now and again, he’d take off to chase the females in the area before returning to his favorite spot overlooking the fields.



Did you know that Blue Grosbeaks are actually related to the State Bird of NC?
If you look closely at his face you might see the resemblance to our local favorite, the Northern Cardinal. Although the Blue Grosbeak doesn’t share the crimson hues of the Cardinal, they are indeed of the same family of Cardinalidae.

All the members of this family group have thick triangular shaped bills, good for crushing hard seeds, which make up a high percentage of their diets. Interestingly, both Grosbeaks and Cardinals will switch over to eating mainly insects (especially juicy grasshoppers for the Grosbeak) during the nesting season to provide a high protein diet for their young.

You can attract Blue Grosbeaks to your own yard by providing Black oil sunflower seed, raw peanuts, sunflower seed chips, millet and safflower seeds in your feeders.
Speaking of backyard birds, check out my contribution at Redfin.com where I share some tips on how to attract a wide variety of species to your yard.

https://www.redfin.com/blog/how-to-attract-birds-to-your-backyard/

It’s always nice to have one of these beauties show up at home!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa
#5Ds

Fledgling Blue Grosbeaks at the Mid Pines rd. dogleg in raleigh, N.C.

Got up early this morning and headed out to go birding at the Mid Pines Rd. dog leg in Raleigh N.C. before it got too hot outside.
It seemed like a good plan but that sun was relentless beating down on those open fields.
Happily, the trip yielded a find of a family of Blue Grosbeaks that made every second of standing in that heat totally worth it in my book!

I was able to photograph the adult male and his mate as well as their two male youngsters.
They were surprisingly tame and allowed me to view them at a relatively close range as they foraged in the shady brush.

Blue Grosbeaks call central North Carolina home from mid-spring to early fall.
Courtship and mating occurs in the spring and early summer.
Their nests are usually built in small trees, shrubs or tangles of vines, briars or other types of brushy vegetation.
Four eggs are laid which will hatch in about 11 to 12 days. Both parents take care of the nestlings from sun up to sun down.
The chicks fledge as little as 10 days and I’m estimating (based on their plumage color, length and coverage ) that the ones I’ve photographed here are around 17-20 days old.
Aren’t they lovely?
🙂

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame SLR, the @canonusa
#5Ds

Blue Grosbeaks at the Mid Pines Rd. dogleg, Raleigh

Blue Grosbeak

Caught a glimpse of a male Blue Grosbeak in the rain at Mid Pines Rd. in Raleigh N.C. early this morning.
These lovely blue birds are relatives of another brightly colored familiar backyard favorite, the Northern Cardinal. Both species belong to the subfamilies Cardinalinae, of the finch family (Fringillidae), which is the largest of all North American bird families.



They are fond of insects, seeds and berries alike and can be enticed to visit your own yard by providing black oil sunflower seed and canary seed in your feeders.
If you’d like to go the extra mile to attract these gorgeous birds, plant shrubs and fruit bearing trees in your yard too!

Photo by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
Canon 5Ds