page_title: Grosbeak
section_title: Cardinal-grosbeaks
hierarchical_section_title: Grosbeak / Cardinal-grosbeaks
caption_attribution_description: Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus )
context_page_description: Grosbeak is a form taxon containing various species of seed-eating passerine birds with large beaks. Although they all belong to the superfamily Passeroidea, these birds are not part of a natural group but rather a polyphyletic assemblage of distantly related songbirds. Some are cardueline finches in the family Fringillidae, while others are cardinals in the family Cardinalidae; one is a member of the weaver family Ploceidae. The word "grosbeak", first applied in the late 1670s, is a partial translation of the French grosbec, where gros means "large" and bec means "beak".
  The following is a list of grosbeak species, arranged in groups of closely related genera. These genera are more closely related to smaller-billed birds than to other grosbeaks. The single exception are the three genera of "typical grosbeak finches", which form a group of closest living relatives and might thus be considered the "true" grosbeaks.
context_section_description: The cardinal family (Cardinalidae) of the Americas contains the following 17 "grosbeaks":
  Typical cardinal-grosbeaks
  The six species in the genus Pheucticus
  Mexican yellow grosbeak, P. chrysopeplus
  Southern yellow grosbeak, P. chrysogaster
  Black-thighed grosbeak, P. tibialis, a restricted-range endemic found only in the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama
  Black-backed grosbeak, P. aureoventris
  Rose-breasted grosbeak, P. ludovicianus
  Black-headed grosbeak, P. melanocephalus
  Masked cardinal-grosbeaks
  The red-and-black grosbeak, Periporphyrus erythromelas of northern South America
  The two species in the Neotropical genus Caryothraustes:
  Black-faced grosbeak, C. poliogaster
  Yellow-green grosbeak, C. canadensis
  The crimson-collared grosbeak, Rhodothraupis celaeno, a restricted-range endemic found only in eastern Mexico
   
  Blue cardinal-grosbeaks
  Two species in the Neotropical genus Cyanocompsa which also contains the blue bunting (C. parellina):
  Ultramarine grosbeak, C. brissonii
  Blue-black grosbeak, C. cyanoides
  The glaucous-blue grosbeak (Cyanoloxia glaucocaerulea) of eastern South America
  One species (sometimes separated in Guiraca) in the genus Passerina, which also contains the North American buntings:
  Blue grosbeak, Passerina caerulea
caption: Black-headed grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus)
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