Crimson-collared Grosbeak

About the Crimson-collared Grosbeak

The Crimson-collared Grosbeak is a Mexican specialty that wanders north into the Rio Grande Valley only in certain winters, instantly setting the local birding hotlines on fire when it does. The male is unmistakable: velvet black with a deep crimson collar and underparts, a color combination no other bird in Texas can match.

For all that finery, it is a shy, heavy-billed skulker that likes to feed low in dense thickets, often giving nothing but a thin whistled call and a glimpse of dark movement. Patience at a fruiting shrub is usually the price of a good look.

This bird was photographed at Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen during the famous invasion winter of 2021-2022, when multiple Mexican rarities turned up in the Valley at once.