Evening Grosbeaks in Alberta

Evening Grosbeaks live in Alberta all year. Cold winters broken by chinook thaws in the south. That makes the cold months the time your yard matters most to them: their winter diet shifts toward maple, box elder and ash seeds.

Continental — prairie in the southeast, aspen parkland in the center, boreal forest in the north and the Rockies in the west.

Across Alberta, evening grosbeaks typically nest from July. Nest site: loose cup high in conifers. Females lay 2–5 eggs, incubate for 11–14 days, and young leave the nest after 13–14 days.

Warm, sunny summers with long days.

• Evening Grosbeaks don't use nest boxes. Keep dense native shrubs and trees such as paper birch, rocky mountain juniper, rabbitbrush for nest sites.
• Delay heavy pruning of shrubs until after July.

Of the regional native plants we track for Alberta, these 8 provide food or cover evening grosbeaks use:

Flocks can empty a feeder in a morning during irruption years; populations have declined sharply since the 1980s.

• Best foods: Black-oil sunflower.
• In Alberta's winter: Cold winters broken by chinook thaws in the south.

Full diet breakdown for evening grosbeaks · Best feeder for evening grosbeaks