Pheucticus ludovicianus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus), colloquially called "cut-throat" due to its coloration, is a large, seed-eating grosbeak in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). It is primarily a foliage gleaner. Males have black heads, wings, backs, and tails, and a bright rose colored patch on their white breast. Males and females exhibit marked sexual dimorphism.
Breeding habitat consists of cool-temperate open deciduous woods throughout much of eastern North America, with migration to tropical America in winter. Rose-breasted grosbeaks have an average maximum lifespan of 7.3 years in the wild, and up to 24 years in captivity. Death in the wild is generally due to collision with objects (buildings, cars, etc.) and predation, to eggs, nestlings and adults.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the rose-breasted grosbeak in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Louisiana. He used the French name Le gros-bec de la Louisiane and the Latin Coccothraustes Ludoviciana. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 2 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 6 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Torreón | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 9 | Quito | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 10 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Columbus Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Xcaret | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 4 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Aviario Nacional de Colombia | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Tracy Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Florida Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rose-breasted Grosbeak sighting in Isle Royale National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 103rd most-seen of the 105 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rose-breasted Grosbeak sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
41st of 66
Of the 66 parks where we can rate Rose-breasted Grosbeak sightings, Isle Royale National Park ranks 41st at under 5%. The best odds are in Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 60%), El Triunfo (Mexico, about 40%) and Elk Island National Park (Canada, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is recorded against all the birds logged in Isle Royale National Park (11 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
