Blue Grosbeak

Description: 6-7 1/2" Slightly larger than a House Sparrow, male dark blue with two chestnut wing bars and stout, dark conical bill, female dark buff brown with two buff wing bars, not as rust colored, tail wager occasionally	Habitat: Woodland edges, old overgrown fields, thickets, brambles, hedgerows, farmlands, mesquite, orchards, willows near streams and ditches, brushy roadsides. Often seen perching on wires or fences.
Nesting: 4-6 pale blue eggs in a loose cup of grass, weed stems, and leaves concealed in a clump of weeds	Range: breeds from California east to New Jersey southward, winters in tropics
Voice: sweet, jumbled warble, also a metallic klink	Diet: insects, seeds, snails, grain, occasionally fruit

Notes: gather in large flocks in fall to search for food, frequent cowbird host, sometimes uses snakeskin as nesting material, thought to thwart predators

When present in Oklahoma: resident statewide, year-round