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The evening grosbeak (''Hesperiphona vespertina'') is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae found in North America. The breeding habitat is coniferous and mixed forest across Canada and the western mountainous areas of the United States and Mexico. It is an extremely rare vagrant to the British Isles, with just two records so far. The nest is built on a horizontal branch or in a fork of a tree. The migration of this bird is variable; in some winters, it may wander as far south as the southern U.S. The evening grosbeak is similar in appearance to the Eurasian hawfinch, both being bulky, heavily built finches with large bills and short tails. The evening grosbeak ranges in length from and spans across the wings.〔()〕〔()〕 In a large sampling of grosbeaks in Pennsylvania during winter, males weighed from , with an average of , while females weighed from , with an average of .〔''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), ISBN 978-0-8493-4258-5.〕 Among standard measurements, the wing chord is , the tail is , the bill is and the tarsus is .〔''Finches and Sparrows'' by Peter Clement. Princeton University Press (1999). ISBN 978-0691048789.〕 The adult has a short black tail, black wings and a large pale bill. The adult male has a bright yellow forehead and body; its head is brown and there is a large white patch in the wing. The adult female is mainly olive-brown, greyer on the underparts and with white patches in the wings. These birds forage in trees and bushes, sometimes on the ground. They mainly eat seeds, berries, and insects. Outside of the nesting season they often feed in flocks. Sometimes, they will swallow fine gravel. The range of this bird has expanded far to the east in historical times, possibly due to plantings of Manitoba maples and other maples and shrubs around farms and the availability of bird feeders in winter. The International Ornithologists' Union places the evening grosbeak in the genus ''Hesperiphona''. The species together with the hooded grosbeak are sometimes placed together with the hawfinch in the genus ''Coccothraustes''. The name of the genus ''Hesperiphona'' was introduced by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1850. ==Gallery== File:Coccothraustes-vespertinus-001.jpg|Female evening grosbeak in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada File:Evening Grosbeak Male.jpg|Male evening grosbeak in Truchas, New Mexico File:Evening Grosbeak 3.jpg|Female in winter, Gatineau Park, Quebec, Canada File:Hesperiphona vespertina CT2.ogv|Feeding on sunflower seeds
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