{"id":1669,"date":"2010-12-20T05:30:54","date_gmt":"2010-12-20T11:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=1669"},"modified":"2025-02-18T12:53:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T18:53:51","slug":"black-headed-grosbeaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/12\/20\/black-headed-grosbeaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Black-headed Grosbeaks In Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Near the headquarters of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge there are several old wooden buildings, one of buildings had a bird feeder hanging in front and there were several different species of birds that were present.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-140295 size-full\" title=\"Male Black-headed Grosbeak perched on an old wooden building\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126.jpg\" alt=\"Male Black-headed Grosbeak perched on an old wooden building, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"11977\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-old-building-mia-mcpherson-montana-6126.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Male Black-headed Grosbeak perched on an old wooden building &#8211;<strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>D200, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 250, 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, near a feeder<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This male Black-headed Grosbeak sure caught my eye with its beautiful orange, black and white plumage. This is a well known and widespread bird of western North America that breeds in dense deciduous forests, along waterways, old fields and thickets.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-140296 size-full\" title=\"Male Black-headed Grosbeak perched on a rusty wagon wheel\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141.jpg\" alt=\"Male Black-headed Grosbeak perched on a rusty wagon wheel, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"11976\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Male Black-headed Grosbeak perched on an old rusty wagon wheel &#8211; D200, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 250, 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, near a feeder<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This was my first opportunity to photograph this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Black-headed_Grosbeak\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Black-headed Grosbeak<\/span><\/a> species and I found the rustic wooden building and the rusty wagon wheel to be appealing perches, though I would have preferred a more natural setting.<\/p>\n<p>I did not have very much time to take pictures of this bird, there was a pickup coming down the road that caused the bird to fly away.<\/p>\n<p>When I get back to Red Rock Lakes NWR in the summertime, I will be keeping my eyes open to look for the Black-headed Grosbeaks again.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/black-headed-grosbeak-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Black-headed Grosbeak photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This male Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) sure caught my eye with its beautiful orange, black and white plumage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,382,12,608],"tags":[4004,215,2406,10169,10170,4062,16036,12210,4104,1078,4092,5964,2315,16247,7711],"class_list":["post-1669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-black-headed-grosbeaks","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-bird-id","tag-black-headed-grosbeak","tag-grosbeak","tag-grosbeaks","tag-male","tag-montane-valley","tag-old-building","tag-perched","tag-pheucticus-melanocephalus","tag-refuge","tag-rustic","tag-summer-3","tag-wagon-wheel","tag-wooden"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-male-rusty-wagon-wheel-mia-mcpherson-montana-6141.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8569,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/11\/black-headed-grosbeak-foraging-in-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":1669,"position":0},"title":"Black-headed Grosbeak foraging in Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I was thrilled to spot this male Black-headed Grosbeak foraging in this flowering shrub while I was in Montana last week.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black-headed Grosbeak foraging, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-mia-mcpherson-5567.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-mia-mcpherson-5567.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-mia-mcpherson-5567.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-mia-mcpherson-5567.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":71540,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/05\/black-headed-grosbeak-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":1669,"position":1},"title":"Black-headed Grosbeak in the Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I was happy that I decided to photograph the striking Black-headed Grosbeak instead of the Downy Woodpecker that was at least forty feet in front of me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female or immature Black-headed Grosbeak in the Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-4594.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-4594.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-4594.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-headed-grosbeak-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-4594.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":127971,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/27\/male-rose-breasted-grosbeak-on-migration-through-arkansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1669,"position":2},"title":"Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak On Migration Through Arkansas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This Rose-breasted Grosbeak that I photographed in Steve Creek's yard, isn't a lifer for me, but these images are the best I have taken so far of this species.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male Rose-breasted Grosbeak on spring migration, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/rose-breasted-grosbeak-male-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-1390.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/rose-breasted-grosbeak-male-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-1390.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/rose-breasted-grosbeak-male-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-1390.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/rose-breasted-grosbeak-male-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-1390.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":103309,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/15\/bull-moose-high-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":1669,"position":3},"title":"Bull Moose High In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday while photographing a singing male Black-headed Grosbeak I heard a splash in the creek I was sitting next to and a bull Moose dropped into my view.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Moose&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Moose","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/moose\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Moose bull in the Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/moose-bull-in-velvet-in-willows-mia-mcpherson-8725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/moose-bull-in-velvet-in-willows-mia-mcpherson-8725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/moose-bull-in-velvet-in-willows-mia-mcpherson-8725.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/moose-bull-in-velvet-in-willows-mia-mcpherson-8725.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8370,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/17\/male-cassins-finch\/","url_meta":{"origin":1669,"position":4},"title":"Male Cassin&#8217;s Finch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've only had one opportunity to photograph Cassin's Finches so far and that was in the small town of Lakeview where the headquarters of Red Rock Lakes national Wildlife Refuge is located.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Cassin's Finch, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/cassins-finch-mia-mcpherson-6152.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/cassins-finch-mia-mcpherson-6152.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/cassins-finch-mia-mcpherson-6152.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/cassins-finch-mia-mcpherson-6152.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4663,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/21\/mountain-bluebird-male\/","url_meta":{"origin":1669,"position":5},"title":"Mountain Bluebird Male","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"How blue can blue be? I think Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoide) males are a wonderful example of just how blue a bird can be.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Mountain Bluebird, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-5375.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-5375.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-5375.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-male-mia-mcpherson-5375.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}