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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?
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