What’s that bird in my yard? The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is passing through Niceville

Here’s another migrating bird you may now be seeing in your yards. It is the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a large insect-eating songbird in the cardinal family. It is primarily a foliage gleaner. It breeds in cool-temperate North America, migrating to tropical America in winter. The adult male in breeding plumage has a black head, wings, back and tail, and a bright rose-red patch on its breast; the wings have two white patches and rose-red linings. The adult female has dark grey-brown upperparts – darker on wings and tail –, a white buff stripe along the top of the head, and black-streaked white underparts, which except in the center of the belly have a buff tinge. The birds traditionally pass through Niceville at about this time each year.