Hi, I just signed up for the newsletter- watched a great YouTube video you out up of a healthy bunch of grosbeaks. I’ve lived in New England most of my life, predominantly in Western Massachusetts. And I’ve noticed over the past 20-25 years a pretty steep decline in seeing the evening grosbeaks, one of my favorites. Do you know or have any ideas what factors may be causing the decline? Thank you for your help!
Hi Daniel, Evening Grosbeaks are a boreal species that live mostly in Canada and the very northernmost parts (and some high elevations farther south) of the US. When cone crops in northern coniferous forests are poor, Evening Grosbeaks “irrupt” in fall and spend the winter far south of their normal range. These irruptions formerly happened every 2–3 years in the eastern United States but have become less frequent, particularly in the East, since the 1980s. You can also take a look at recent sightings of Evening Grosbeaks on eBird.org.
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Hi, I just signed up for the newsletter- watched a great YouTube video you out up of a healthy bunch of grosbeaks. I’ve lived in New England most of my life, predominantly in Western Massachusetts. And I’ve noticed over the past 20-25 years a pretty steep decline in seeing the evening grosbeaks, one of my favorites. Do you know or have any ideas what factors may be causing the decline? Thank you for your help!
Hi Daniel, Evening Grosbeaks are a boreal species that live mostly in Canada and the very northernmost parts (and some high elevations farther south) of the US. When cone crops in northern coniferous forests are poor, Evening Grosbeaks “irrupt” in fall and spend the winter far south of their normal range. These irruptions formerly happened every 2–3 years in the eastern United States but have become less frequent, particularly in the East, since the 1980s. You can also take a look at recent sightings of Evening Grosbeaks on eBird.org.