This Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus
male paused on the deck rail for a moment after he helped himself to sunflower seeds from the bird feeder.
It is always easy to tell adult males from females -- he is a black-and-white bird with a brilliant rose-red chevron extending from his black throat down the middle of the breast.
A female adult is not black and white, but heavily streaked brown shades with a lighter eye stripe.
But juvenile males are not easily recognized. Their first plumage is like their mother, streaky brown with gold brown breast. In their hatch year, male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are streaky brown overall with white patches on the primary wing feathers and pink patches on the underwings. Females in their hatch year are streaky brown overall with small white patches on the primaries and yellow patch on the underwing.
RBG usually nest in a vertical fork or crotch of a sapling. There are plenty of saplings around the pond.
