Evening Grosbeak Window Collisions!

The Evening Grosbeak needs your help. For decades this brightly colored finch was a beloved winter backyard feeder bird during its irruptions from more northern or montane breeding areas. Recent studies have found that Evening Grosbeak has lost more than 90% of its North American population since 1970, with some breeding range regions experiencing more significant declines than others, such as the boreal forest.

The Road to Recovery (R2R) initiative was a response to the “3 billion birds lost” paper in Science by Rosenberg et al. in 2019. R2R has provided support for a pilot species project, led by a newly formed Evening Grosbeak Working Group to tracking Evening Grosbeaks across their annual cycle to help learn more about the species’ massive and rapid decline. Part of this effort includes better understanding factors influencing their decline, including habitat change, diet, and window collisions or disease mortalities.

During the non-breeding months Evening Grosbeaks can spend large amounts of time near buildings with feeder stations – and glass windows. To better understand the Evening Grosbeak’s window collision vulnerability and the impact this threat has on populations, the Evening Grosbeak Working Group is seeking observations of Evening Grosbeak window collisions.

How to Report Evening Grosbeak Collisions

If you find an Evening Grosbeak that struck a window that you want to report, submit your observation to the iNaturalist project Evening Grosbeak Window Collisions and fill out the following required fields:

·       Location

·       Date

·       Species – Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertine)

·       Was the bird Alive or Dead?

·       Was this bird banded?

·       Are you using feeders?

Optional information can be shared:

·       Photo

·       What is the distance of feeders from nearest window?

·       Does window or glass have bird collision deterrents?

·       What side of the building was the collision (N,S,E,W)?

·       Have you observed other bird collisions on your windows/glass? If so, what species?

If you are looking for guidance on what to do when you’ve found or encountered an injured bird, see the National Audubon Society’s guidelines here.

Here is an article by the USFWS about an Evening Grosbeak tagged and tracked via this project that died from a window collision:

Don’t Let the Sun Set on Evening Grosbeaks | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service