Blue Grosbeak
Passerina caerulea
Silhouette: Jonah Duckles · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderPasseriformes (Perching Birds)
- FamilyCardinalidae (Cardinals and Allies)
- GenusPasserina (North American Buntings)
- SpeciesPasserina caerulea (Blue Grosbeak)
About the Blue Grosbeak
The blue grosbeak (Passerina caerulea) is a medium-sized North American passerine bird in the cardinal family Cardinalidae. It is mainly migratory, wintering in Central America and breeding in northern Mexico and the southern United States. The male is blue with two brown wing bars. The female is mainly brown with scattered blue feathers on the upperparts and two brown wing bars.
The blue grosbeak was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia caerulea. The specific epithet caerulea is the Latin word for "blue", "azure-blue", "sky-blue" or "dark-blue". Linnaeus based his own description on the "blew gross-beak" described and illustrated by Mark Catesby in his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. The book had been published in 1729–1732. Catesby gave the location as Carolina and Linnaeus specified America. The type location is now restricted to South Carolina.
Some taxonomists placed the blue grosbeak in its own monotypic genus Guiraca but in 2001 a molecular phylogenetic study of mitochondrial DNA sequences found that the blue grosbeak, in spite... Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Darién National Park
Indigo Bunting
Passerina cyanea
Summer Tanager
Piranga rubra
Scarlet Tanager
Piranga olivacea
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Pheucticus ludovicianus
Dickcissel
Spiza americana
Lemon-spectacled Tanager
Chlorothraupis olivacea
Blue-black Grosbeak
Cyanocompsa cyanoides
Yellow-green Grosbeak
Caryothraustes canadensis
Hepatic Tanager
Piranga flava
Carmiol's Tanager
Chlorothraupis carmioli
Bananaquit
Coereba flaveola
Tropical Kingbird
Tyrannus melancholicus
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.
Parks Where Found
Quick answers
What are the chances of seeing a Blue Grosbeak in Darién National Park?
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blue Grosbeak sighting in Darién National Park, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
When is the best time to see Blue Grosbeak in Darién National Park?
January has the highest sighting rate for Blue Grosbeak in Darién National Park in our monthly data.