Grosbeak hawfinches

The Gros-bec hawfinches ( Coccothraustes coccothraustes , Linnaeus, 1758) is small a Oiseau partially Migrateur, and the largest specimen of the family of the fringillidés . It related with others Gros-bec S, is currently classified in different kinds.

Description

The grosbeak is large and corpulent, measurement approximately 17-18 cm and is characterized by its enormous triangular Bec ^{Plus details}, a thick neck and a rather short Queue; its silhouette always leans forwards.

The adult male, with the russet-red head and the black neck, the gray nape of the neck and the Brown back . Its Aile S broad is blue black, crossed by a large band reddish white which one finds under the belly, and its short Queue is brown with the white end. Its belly is of brown a very pale pink and its stomach is white. The female resembles the male much except its head is less russet-red and that its secondaries are gray. The youthful one with the yellow and little marked head brown, the chest and the mottled sides and its wing bar separate into two.

The grosbeak has the rosy eyes and the dark legs the winter and which pass to the pink clear the summer.

It appears slightly disproportionate because of its very bulky neck. ( Attention, considering by far, possible confusion of the grosbeak hawfinches with the boreal Gossip. )

Song

He rather little frequently sings and its song is very hesitant and far from sound often a " tik-tik-turn-yes-ouit". On the contrary its cries are sound and explosive, rather typical, of the " tsik" or of the " ptik… ptikit" and its call and a " tsrîîh" end. When it is worried it launches a " kioûû" apprehensive.

Behavior

The grosbeak is very savage, being wary and enough erratic, it is not let approach easily, and it leaves to be perched in top of the Arbre S and does not go down again that very with difficulty of branch in branch. Its flight is powerful and undulating, and its hopping step is pitched.

When a male grosbeak succeeded in alluring a female, it begins its bridal parade. The male roughcasts its feathers and agitates its wings and its tail. Then its partner advances towards him and it starts to make reverences. The parade ends in a " baiser" between the two partners, they stick their two nozzles. That makes the male will seek food which it deposits directly in the nozzle of the female. It happens that during the nuptial flight the grosbeaks continue by pushing great cries. During this period the grosbeak shows itself very nervous and aggressive.

The Winter, when it migrates it often gathers with its congeneric same species.

Longevity

The grosbeak can live approximately 10 years.

Habitat

One especially meets it in the forests of Feuillus which comprise various species of them, but he also lives in the parks and the small wood X.

Distribution

The grosbeak is present all Europe, all Asia (except the Southeast Asia) the the Maghreb, Egypt, the Libya, and also in Alaska.

Reproduction

Nesting

It is arboricolous and prefers the Charme S, the Hêtre S and the maple S to establish its nest. The grosbeaks often gather in colonies to nest, and each couple defends a small piece of territory. Its nest - whose site is chosen by the male and the foundations also built by him - is located at least at more than 3 m of the ground. It is in form of cut and the female brings there Radicelle S of the hair and hair.

Once the nest completed the female deposits there 4 to 7 eggs of approximately 2 cm length and whose color goes from gray-blue to the pale green. But the color and the reasons (spots, scratches…) shell are rather variable.

The grosbeak produces one normally brooded per annum, but in the mediums where it takes pleasure that sometimes happens to him to make a second brooded in the year.

Breeding of let us oisillons

The incubation of hard-boiled eggs ten days. It is the female which broods while the male supplies it with the nest.

With the blossoming the chicks are covered with a long very thick white sleeping bag. The parents nourish them insects, but mainly of caterpillars. The parents can carry a dozen of it at the same time.

At the end of a dozen days, sometimes less, the young people leave the nest but remain in the vicinity and are nourished by the adults still during 15 days.

Food

The grosbeak nourishes mainly cores and seeds which it peels with its very powerful nozzle and its impressive musculature of the jaws, because one needs an enormous pressure to break a core. But in spring when the seeds miss a little, it nourishes readily caterpillars and of kites which it catches with the vol.

Protection

The grosbeak is not easy to count considering it is very savage and thus difficult to observe. It seems nevertheless that the populations decreased these last years.

Photograph gallery

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