I've seen several black-headed grosbeaks recently, at Big Morongo Preserve in Yucca Valley, at Whitewater Canyon, and at a feeder in our backyard in Redlands (which I did not get a photo of).
Males have a black head, wings and tail with prominent white patches. They have a dark to tawny orange breast and orange belly and a conical bill.
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| Male |
Females have a brown head, neck and back, gray-brown wings (with two white wing bars and yellow edges) and tail, white breast, with black streaks and white streaks down the middle of the head, over the eyes and on the cheeks. I saw females at Big Morongo and home and a male at Whitewater.
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| Female |
They winter in Mexico, summer in much of the western U.S. and are migratory in much of the southern part of the U.S., including the area I live, except for along the coasts.
Beautiful bird that really captures the colors of the American Southwest.
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