This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

We tend to associate this handsome singer with spring, and though they arrive with much fanfare towards the end of April, many will forage in the canopy of midwestern forests and sometimes at backyard feeders for the full length of summer. The brown streaks of the female’s plumage might be confused for those on a purple finch (though one with a strangely large bill). males have no such problem; they’re black and white with a big rose-colored triangle on the chest. This is the rose-breasted grosbeak.

The rose-breasted’s song is robinlike but very sweet and very resonant. If you have trouble Iding this song in wild (it can sound like a tanager or even an oriole sometimes) just wait for a call note; these sound like a sneaker on a gym floor and are both frequently given, and diagnostic. Here’s the rose-breasted grosbeak again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW