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Pine grosbeak

Pine grosbeak
Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) (13667564073).jpg
Adult male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Genus: Pinicola
Species: P. enucleator
Binomial name
Pinicola enucleator
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Pinicola enucleator-Map.png
Breeding range of P. enucleator

The pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) is a large member of the true finch family, Fringillidae. It is found in coniferous woods across Alaska, the western mountains of the United States, Canada, and in subarctic Fennoscandia and Siberia. The species is a frugivore, especially in winter, favoring small fruits, such as rowans (mountain-ashes in the New World). With fruit-crop abundance varying from year to year, pine grosbeak is one of many subarctic-resident bird species that exhibit irruptive behavior. In irruption years, individuals can move long distances in search of suitable food supplies, bringing them farther south and/or downslope than is typical of years with large fruit crops. In such years in the New World, they may occur well south of the typical extent of winter distribution, which is the northern Great Lakes region and northern New England in the United States. This species is a very rare vagrant to temperate Europe; in all of Germany for example, not more than 4 individuals and often none at all have been recorded each year since 1980.

Adult female

Immature male

Front view of female, notice forked tail, Gatineau Park, Quebec

Eggs of Pinicola enucleator MHNT

This species is one of the largest species in the true finch family. It measures from 20 to 25.5 cm (7.9 to 10.0 in) in length and weighs from 52 to 78 g (1.8 to 2.8 oz), with an average mass of 56.4 g (1.99 oz). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 10.2 to 11.6 cm (4.0 to 4.6 in), the tail is 7.8 to 9.5 cm (3.1 to 3.7 in), the bill is 1.4 to 1.65 cm (0.55 to 0.65 in) and the tarsus is 1.9 to 2.3 cm (0.75 to 0.91 in). Adults have a long forked black tail, black wings with white wing bars and a large bill. Adult males have a rose-red head, back and rump. Adult females are olive-yellow on the head and rump and grey on the back and underparts. Young birds have a less contrasting plumage overall, appearing shaggy when they moult their colored head plumage.


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