By Roger Lanse
An Arenas Valley resident and amateur birder reports the rare sighting of a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks, male and female, at their home the morning of Thursday, June 5, 2025. The pair reportedly flew into a front yard willow tree, hanging out for only a few seconds before flying off not to be seen again. Needless to say, the birder and his birding partner told the Beat they were over the moon elated, as they had only seen the bird once before in September of 2003.
The rose-breasted grosbeak is not listed in the bird checklists of the Southwest New Mexico Birding Trail or the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and is listed as 'rare' and 'transient during migration' in the Gila National Forest checklist.
According to various range maps, the rose-breasted grosbeak winters in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America and breeds in the northern Lower 48 and southern Canada in summer. Its primary migration routes between winter abode and summer nesting traverse much of eastern and central U.S., however they have been found now and then migrating through scattered areas of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona, and southern California.
