Pine Grosbeaks in Agincourt

[parliamentjohn]

Noticed cones falling from a spruce tree in the backyard- saw dozens of birds in the tree- thought they were purple finches until I saw some which had a dirty yellow on them- so off to my bird book!  Turns out they were the male and female pine grosbeaks- I've never seen them before.  This was last week and there must have been 50 of them.  Hung around for 3 or 4 days.  Very tame.      -Paul

[Kin Lau]

Haven't heard of many Pine Grosbeaks so far this winter. I suspect that they were probably White-winged Crossbills, which have the same colouring as Pine Grosbeaks.

I've been hearing/seeing WW Crossbills in many places in Scarb, Markham, Whitby etc.

[Tyler]

Dropping cones and 'thought they were Purple finches' make me think that they are White-winged Crossbills as well.

White -winged Crossbills are very messy eaters. They love to drop cones once done with them. Crossbills are similiar size to Purple Finches. Pine Grosbeaks are more Robin size. Also Pine Grosbeaks prefer berries and Larch(tamarack) buds over spruce cones.

With that said Pine Grosbeaks are now moving into the area and are not far from Agincourt. There are birds currently in Darlington Provincial Park (Oshawa) where they eat european larch buds, and Claremount/ North Pickering area where they are eating various berries. Combined I know of maybe 30 birds.

On the other hand White-winged Crossbills this winter are everywhere there are spruce trees with some cones. Yesterday I even had them on the U of T campus behind the ROM. and here in Oshawa I have 100-150 daily on my street consuming the blue spruce cone crop.

[parliamentjohn]

Thank you for correcting me.  I wish I had noticed crossed bill. I've seen yellow and rosebreasted grosbeaks before and now that I think of it, they were a little small.  Sorry about that.     _Paul

[Bluffs Birder]

Thanks Tyler for the information about the Pine Grosbeak's eating habits.  There's a mature European Larch in Rosetta McClain Gardens (Scarborough) which I'll definitely keep my eyes on.

Walter