Dan Howley
January 28, 2008

Pine grosbeaks don't show up around here very often, so Corey Finger of Albany won't soon forget a close encounter he had with some on Thanksgiving weekend.

A rare winter visitor to the Capital Region, the pine grosbeak, distinguished by its gorgeous rosy red coloring and dominant beak, is among legions of songbirds who make their home in the 1.5 billion acres of the boreal forest that stretches from Alaska to Newfoundland.

"We were able to walk up to about eight feet away from them," said Finger, who came across them in a crab apple tree at Partridge Ridge Wildlife Management Area in Berne. "The were making a mess with their beaks ripping into the crab apples to get at the seeds. It was wonderful."

Finger has seen them twice since, once near Wilton Mall in Saratoga and once on the campus at SUNY Plattsburgh.

"We might see them in New York once every five years or longer," said Schenectady's Matt Medler, science coordinator for the Boreal Songbird Initiative. "So people will travel miles to see them."

Medler, a biologist and graduate of Cornell University where he worked for four years at the school's renowned ornithology laboratory, said that since early November there have been numerous pine grosbeak sightings, including in Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady and Schoharie counties.

He also said sightings this winter of the evening grosbeak brings hope that the species is rebounding from diminishing numbers. Other more familiar area visitors from the boreal forest include the common redpoll, dark-eyed junco and the common merganser.

PINE GROSBEAK

Features: Slightly smaller than an American Robin. Males mostly rosy-red, with dark wings and two white wing bars. Females mostly gray, with yellow-olive on head and rump.

Behavior: Slow-moving and tame, often allowing close approach. Gives surprisingly soft whistled calls for such a large bird.

Food: Buds, seeds and fruits of many trees. When seen in New York, often found feeding on ornamental crab apple and cherry trees. Uncommon at bird feeders, but will eat sunflower seed, especially on the ground.

Notebook: Moves southward from the boreal forest only rarely, at intervals of five to 25 years. The reasons they leave the boreal are not fully understood, but are thought to be related to low food supplies.

COMMON REDPOLL

Features: Similar in size to an American goldfinch. Both sexes have a red cap (or poll), a small yellow bill, a black throat, streaked sides, and brownish upperparts. Males have a rich pink wash across much of the breast.

Behavior: Often seen in large flocks, both in the wild and at bird feeders. At bird feeders, redpolls are aggressive with each other and act dominantly toward goldfinches. Calls include harsh "chit-chit-chit."

Food: Small seeds, including weed seeds and seeds from willows, birches, and conifers. At feeders, redpolls strongly prefer thistle seed.

Notebook: Typically moves southward to the northern United States every other winter in response to the failure of boreal spruces and birches to produce seeds.

EVENING GROSBEAK

Features: Slightly smaller than a robin. Both sexes have a huge bill (hence the name grosbeak), black wings with white markings, and a black tail. Males have bright yellow eye-stripes, dark heads, and bright yellow bellies, while females are more drably colored.

Behavior: Often occurs in large flocks, which can quickly clean out all of the sunflower seed at a bird feeder. Often noticed overhead by its loud, piercing "peer" calls.

Food: During the breeding season, feeds largely on insect larvae. Also eats fruits and seeds from a variety of trees, especially maples.

Notebook: Typically moves southward every other year. This species was seen in the tens of thousands in the Northeast during the 1970s and 1980s, but has declined dramatically in the past 15 years. Some believe that the decrease is linked to the decline of spruce budworm, a moth that periodically infests portions of the boreal forest.

DARK-EYED JUNCO

Features: A small sparrow. Males are predominantly slate-gray, but with a white belly. Females are duller than males, with more brown coloration. Both sexes have pink bills and conspicuous white outer-tail feathers.

Behavior: This common backyard visitor typically does not visit elevated bird feeders, but instead feeds on the ground below feeders. Gives a distinctive smacking call and also has another note with a buzzy quality.

Food: Mostly seeds, including sunflower seeds.

Notebook: Juncos are regular visitors from the boreal forest, and are often among the most common backyard birds during the winter months. They also breed in higher elevation areas across much of New York state.

COMMON MERGANSER

Features: A large duck, even larger than a mallard. Males have a bright red bill, dark head and back, and white underparts that are sometimes tinged pink. Females look completely different, with an orange bill, brown head, and gray body.

Behavior: These fish-eating ducks have thin bills with tooth-like serrations that help them grasp slippery fish.

Food: A variety of fish species, depending on location.

Notebook: Like the dark-eyed junco, common merganser also breeds in New York, but it is seen in largest numbers during the winter after large numbers have migrated south from the boreal region. Males are only seen in our area from late fall to late spring, disappearing northward during the summer months.

Source: Matt Medler, science coordinator for the Boreal Songbird Initiative

Boreal songbird initiative

The Boreal Songbird Initiative is part of a major effort to protect Canada's boreal forest, which is one of the world's last great conservation opportunities.

To learn more about the boreal forest, the billions of birds that breed there, and what you can do to help conserve the boreal, visit the BSI Web site http://www.borealbirds.org. This site contains a bird guide to more than 300 boreal species, a "Take Action" page and the latest conservation news.

BOREAL FOREST AND BIRDS

It is known as "North America's Bird Nursery," because vast numbers of birds nest there.

* Each year, it supports an estimated 1.6 billion to 3 billion breeding birds, representing more than 300 species.

* For nearly 150 species, it supports at least 25 percent of their North American breeding populations.

* It hosts 38 percent of North America's nesting waterfowl, and 30 percent of the continent's landbirds and shorebirds.

BOREAL BIRDS AND THE CAPITAL REGION

More than 100 species of boreal populations regularly visit the Capital Region as migrants or winter visitors.

* Some of the Capital Region's most common birds of spring, fall and winter are species that rely heavily on the boreal forest for nesting. The boreal forest is the summer home for more than 200 million dark-eyed juncos, more than 100 million white-throated sparrows, nearly 100 million yellow-rumped warblers, and 80 million American robins.

Source: Boreal Songbird Initiative