Pine grosbeaks flocking to feed on crab apples

Ed Grew, birder and geologist, found the first flock of pine grosbeaks in Greater Bangor back in early November. These frugivorous – fruit-eating – birds were feeding in crab apple trees between Fogler Library and the Memorial Union on the University of Maine campus.

Since then, birders have reported them from every township in the area, including at the Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden.

Pine grosbeaks are nearly the size of robins. Most are first-year birds in mostly dark gray plumage, accented with only a little yellow on head and rump. If it’s your first time seeing them, first-year pine grosbeaks are hard to identify.

The adult females, mostly gray, have luminous yellow-lime or yellow-olive accents. The adult males are bright pink with only a little gray and white. The young males are brick-red with gray. Some bird books show only the male, making the young birds hard for beginners to identify.

If you see a crab apple tree with robin-sized, gray birds eating the fruit, they are certainly pine grosbeaks.

They are not a bit timid. You easily can get as close as four feet, which lets you get wonderful photos. Some photos are funny. It appears that pine grosbeaks stuff themselves. They get fruit pulp all over their bills, reminiscent of people at a pie-eating contest.

They sometimes perch upside down to get the best fruit. Sometimes they reach for a crab apple with bill wide open. Often they crush and eat only the seeds. The pulp stays around the bill and face. That’s why the photos are funny.

Most years pine grosbeaks stay in the northern forest in Canada. This year, we have an irruption of pine grosbeaks in our area. An irruption is an ecological term meaning an irregular migration of birds that move in large numbers, away from a crop failure, to an area where food is abundant.

Many of the winter finches -pine grosbeaks, pine siskins, redpolls and crossbills – come to Maine for that reason. Fall-fruiting trees, conifer trees and birch trees produce seeds irregularly, hence the birds have evolved to travel.

Pine grosbeaks are related not to purple finches, nor to pine siskins or redpolls, but to the rosy finches of the Rocky Mountains and the bullfinches of Eurasia.

For information on Fields Pond Audubon Center, call 989-2591.