It's about all the Pine grosbeaks in Southcentral Alaska this year

Pine grosbeak male

I've been having quite a conversation today about Pine grosbeaks. Yes, I know, like counting flowers on the wall.  So what?

For starters, I have noticed larger numbers of the grosbeaks around the feeders this year. It's not exactly the attack of the Redpolls like a couple of years ago but where i might see one or two a couple of times a week, this year I have seen as many as a dozen several times, and there are always a few around the feeders. A friend in Seward said today she has had as many as 200 in her yard, but she has mountain ash with the berries a lot of these birds like.

Pine grosbeak female

With that in mind a post showed up on the Birds of Alaska Facebook page with two pictures of grosbeaks, one an obvious female with the subdued orange and olive colors and another with those colors but right red on its head. The poster asked why the difference in colors. After no one posted an answer for more than four hours,  I chimed in with this:

I have read that juvenile male grosbeaks are colored like females well into the first winter and begin to show the red as spring approaches. The one on the right is probably a male going through puberty. lol

Almost immediately another person posted this:

Photo by Alysse Zimmerman

Immature male Pine grosbeak posted on Facebook.

 You are correct Tim! I found a picture of a juvenile male on Google

With that issue settled, I thought I would share my thoughts about numbers and posted this:

I am curious. I have seen more pine grosbeaks at my feeders this year than any time in the past 10 years. I have also noticed a lot more pictures of them on this page and a lot more people reporting larger groups of the birds. Anybody have an idea why there are so many this year? Might it have something to do with the unusual winter? Higher survival maybe?

Fairly quickly another responder wrote: 

I seem to get a handful each winter but this winter has been greater than normal. Have had large numbers at our place a half dozen winters in the 35 years we have lived in this house. My theory is that their natural foods are in short supply during the years when they are fairly common. There also seems to be more crossbills around this winter but I see that as the Spruce Trees have a bumper crop of cones. So its feast or famine depending on the species we are talking about.

I added this: 

This from the Cornellab page: During most of the year, 99% of diet is vegetable matter, especially buds, seeds, and fruits of spruce, pine, juniper, elm, maple, mountain ash, apple, and crabapple. It feeds insects and spiders to its young, though, often mixed with plant foods. It drinks water or eats snow daily. I thought of the food supply too, but with low snow cover it seems like there would be plenty for them.

A bunch of "likes went back and forth after that and then it looks like everybody moved on.

So, I posted this:

The ( Cornell Lab) page mentions irregular irruptions where flocks will show up pretty far south. Maybe this year they think they are in British Columbia.  

You have to wonder.

Cornell Lab All About Birds Pine grosbeak page