Pinicola enucleator
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) is a large member of the true finch family, Fringillidae. It is the only species in the genus Pinicola. It is found in coniferous woods across Alaska, the western mountains of the United States, Canada, and in subarctic Fennoscandia and across the Palearctic to Siberia. The species is a frugivore, especially in winter, favoring small fruits, such as rowans (mountain-ashes in the New World). With fruit-crop abundance varying from year to year, pine grosbeak is one of many subarctic-resident bird species that exhibit irruptive behavior. In irruption years, individuals can move long distances in search of suitable food supplies, bringing them farther south and/or downslope than is typical of years with large fruit crops.
The pine grosbeak was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia enucleator. The type locality is Sweden. It is now the only species placed in the genus Pinicola that was erected in 1808 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The generic name Pinicola combines the Latin pinus meaning "pine tree" and colere... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Gros Morne National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Wrangell-St. Elias National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Katmai National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Kenai Fjords National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 17 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nizhny Novgorod | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 6 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pine Grosbeak sighting in Calgary on a given day, based on 1,068 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 119th most-seen of the 259 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October to February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pine Grosbeak in Calgary on a given day, against under 5% in March to September, the lowest months. Those are among Calgary's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain a month against 120 mm in June.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pine Grosbeak sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 8
Of the 8 cities where we can rate Pine Grosbeak sightings, Calgary ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Nizhny Novgorod (Russia, about 10%), Edmonton (Canada, about 10%) and Anchorage (United States, under 5%).
Same family: Fringillidae
The closest relatives of the Pine Grosbeak that you can see in Calgary (family Fringillidae, Finches, Euphonias, and Allies) are House Finch (about 50%), American Goldfinch (about 20%) and Pine Siskin (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pine Grosbeak is recorded against all the birds logged in Calgary (1,068 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
