Image of Blue Grosbeak

Description:

"23 July 2015: Observed a single male Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea) standing on the tallest point of a dried out tree next to the Elm Fork Trinity River downstream a bit from the Lake Ray Roberts dam's spillway at Elm Fork Park, Denton County, Texas (between Sanger and Pilot Point). The distance at which the observation occurred made a closer digital image difficult. Mark Lockwood in January 2010 prepared, ""Birds of Ray Roberts Lake State Park: A Field Checklist"" as part of the Natural Resources Program, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). In it Lockwood notes that the Blue Grosbeak is an ""uncommon"" bird to the site during spring, summer and fall. We were fortunate to observe one such instance and clearly this is one half of what must be a pair nesting in the immediate area. Good tidings for future sightings of this beautiful blue bird at Elm Fork Park. According to the Texas Breeding Bird Atlas, Blue Grosbeak is a large bunting. While the male is blue in color with ""chestnut wingbars,"" the female's color ranges from light to dark brown. It is a large songbird and its prominent white and black beak speaks of a diet rich in seeds and insects. Its closest relative is the Lazuli Bunting. The range of the Blue Grosbeak encompasses the middle of the Western Hemisphere. It breeds during the summer in Mexico and the United States and is found throughout the southern half of states in the continental US from coast to coast and its northernmost range reaches to North Dakota in the center of the country and just shy of New England on the Northeast But it does not appear to be a bird whose presence extends into Canada unlike so many other North American migratory birds. Outside the United States its range extends from the north of Mexico along the entire length of its border with the US from California to Texas or Baja California Norte to Tamaulipas and then extends into Central America without necessarily arriving at the door of the South American continent. Blue Grosbeak is also a bird that winters throughout the Caribbean as part of its changing seasonal range. In parts of Mexico's southwestern Pacific states and along the Pacific Coast of Central America, Blue Grosbeak resides permanently. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds online encyclopedia for North American birds, this is one species that is currently expanding its existing range. Blue Grosbeak is therefore an American bird native to the middle of the Western Hemisphere where with its colorful appearance and attractive singing is known to those who reside in the United States, Mexico, Caribbean and Central America. Blue Grosbeak raises two broods during its breeding season. This bird species is known to be ""uncommon but widespread"" in the US and presumably also in other areas encompassing its mid-hemispheric distribution."