Black-headed Grosbeak, Pheucticus melanocephalus
Black-headed Grosbeak, Pheucticus melanocephalus maculatus, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Alamos, Sonora, April 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F. Smith, Alamos, Sonora.
Black-headed Grosbeak, Pheucticus melanocephalus maculatus, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, May 2007. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).
Black-headed Grosbeak, Pheucticus melanocephalus maculatus, Female. Photograph taken within a residential community in Alamos, Sonora, April 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F. Smith, Alamos, Sonora.
Background and Identification
The Black-headed Grosbeak, Pheucticus melanocephalus maculatus, is one of two subspecies of Black-headed Grosbeak, both of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Cardinalidae Family of Cardinals and Allies, which has forty-nine members placed in fourteen genera, and one of six global species of the Pheucticus Genus. Their diet consists of insects and spiders, numerous fruits, and weed seeds. They are socially monogamous. They have life spans of up to twenty-five years. The Black-headed Grosbeak has been poorly studied and very little has been documented about their biology and behavioral patterns. They are known in Mexico as Picogrueso Cabecinegro.
The Black-headed Grosbeak is a mid-sized songbird, with lengths ranging from 18 cm (7.1 inches) to 19 cm (7.5 inches) and average weights ranging from 40 g (1.40 oz) to 50 g (1.76 oz). They are a sexually dimorphic species, males are more brightly colored than females. Adult males have black on their heads, black wings, and tails with sharply contrasting white spots, brilliant cinnamon breasts, rump, nape and flanks, and a patch of yellow on the belly. Adult females have brown heads with a buff to white crown and eye stripe, a pale chin, brown wings, and indistinct buff spots on their tails. Females also have streaked body plumage that is a dull cinnamon to buff color with variable amounts of yellow depending on the individual and the geographical location. Both sexes have brown bills with a bluish-white or cream-colored tip, greenish-brown irises, and dull gray or slate legs. Juveniles generally resemble adult females, but males usually have deeper ochre breast coloration than females.
Habitat and Geographical Range
The Black-headed Grosbeaks are found in a wide variety of habitats, including riparian and floodplain habitats. Popular tree forest varieties for this grosbeak to inhabit include aspen groves, oak savannas, pine forests, pinyon-juniper woodlands, and deciduous growth in canyons and mountain valleys. As opportunistic feeders, they are commonly spotted in suburban developments and orchards. They thrive at elevations up to 2,100 m (6,900 feet).
The Black-headed Grosbeak is found throughout the northern latitudes of Mexico ranging from the United States border south to Oaxaca. They are absent from the coastal regions of the Atlantic Slope in Tamaulipas and Veracruz and in the Pacific Slope from Jalisco, Michoacán and Guerrero. The maculatus subspecies breeds in northern Baja California and winters within Baja California Sur and the Pacific Slope from southern Sonora south the Jalisco and Michoacán and in the interior from Zacatecas to Oaxaca and on the Atlantic Slope from Tamaulipas to Oaxaca. They are year-round residents in the mild southern portions of their range and complete migrants in the northern portion.
Common Misidentifications
The Black-headed Grosbeak can be confused with the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, especially where ranges overlap in the central United States. The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak has a distinctive red patch on its chest and a black head, while the female is streaked brown and white, similar to the female Black-headed Grosbeak but with a more prominent white eyebrow stripe.
Conservation Status
From a conservation perspective the Black-headed Grosbeak is currently considered to be of Least Concern, with stable, widely distributed populations. They are relatively tolerant of human developments, and often use architecture to aid in the building of their nests in urban areas.