Birds Posters
Grosbeak Finch
The Kona Grosbeak, at 15 centimetres was a medium sized, chunky bird.
Its plumage was a dull olive green, and did not display sexual dimorphism. The bird had a large head and a giant, brownish-gray beak.
The Kona Grosbeak (Chloridops kona) is an extinct species of finch in the Hawaiian honeycreeper subfamily, Drepanidinae.
The Kona Grosbeak was endemic to naio (Myoporum sandwicense) forests on a lava flows at elevations of 1,400 1,500 metres (4,600 4,900 ft) near the Kona District on the island of Hawaii.
The species was already very rare when it was first discovered, being found in only about 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi), and was last collected in 1894.
Reasons for its extinction are not very well known.
Black-headed grosbeaks prefer deciduous and broad-leaved evergreen woods, nesting in thickets on the edges of open woods, ponds, swamps, or streams, or in small trees.
Black-headed grosbeaks have the distinctive grosbeak bill, which is large, conical, thick, and straw-colored. Both genders have yellow wing linings.
Females differ in color from males, featuring brown to dark grey feathers with a striped head, back, and sides, a paler bill, white wing bar, and a tan breast.
Their more colorful male counterparts have white patches on the wings, a black and white tail, and black head with bright orangish-brown underparts and red legs.
Rose-breasted grosbeaks breed in northern North America, from British Columbia in the west to the Canadian maritime provinces in the east and as far south as New Jersey,
the Appalachian Mountains through South Carolina, west to eastern Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.
Rose-breasted grosbeaks are 18 to 21.5 cm long and from 39 to 49 grams.
Males have a black head, white bill, are black and white dorsally and have a white belly and breast,
topped with their rosy throat. Females are brown with white markings above and buffy with brown streaks on the belly, breast, and throat.
Immature and non-breeding males take on some female plumage characteristics, such as the buffy white superciliary stripe and some brown and streaked plumage.