photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment
lejun | profile | all galleries >> "Birdseye View" >> Finches, Grosbeaks, Tanagers, Buntings & Orioles >> Grosbeak Gallery >> Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at Feeding Stations During Spring Migration >> Molting Male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Molting Male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks




Male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Pheucticus ludovicianus) molt and may have a mottled mix of brown and black feathers on the back and wings.
Sometimes a particularly mottled male may be a second year male (SY-M) although the extent of molting is thought to be more with the timing of molt than by age.
Source: McGill Bird Observatory: ( http://www.migrationresearch.org/mbo/id/rbgr.html


Adult Male (ASY, a bird more than two years old) Second-year Male (SY) Second-year Male (SY) Second-year Male (SY) Second-year Male (SY) Second-year Male (SY)
Second year male (SY) Second Year Male

comment
Don30-Apr-2013 20:32
Excellent natural history. If these birds are passing through your area then are they moulting whilst on migration? Are the flight feathers being moulted at the same time?
click on thumbnails for full image