Grosbeak /ˈɡroʊsbiːk/ 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. [1] 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. [2] 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". [3]
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. Exceptions are the three genera of "typical grosbeak finches", which form a group of closest living relatives and might thus be considered the "true" grosbeaks.
The finch family ( Fringillidae) contains 13 living species named "grosbeak", which are all part of the large subfamily Carduelinae:
Typical grosbeak finches
grosbeak bullfinch
grosbeak goldfinches
Genus Crithagra Two species in the genus Crithagra are named "grosbeak-canaries" and one is called a grosbeak:
In addition, there are two extinct Fringillidae "grosbeaks":
The cardinal family ( Cardinalidae) of the Americas contains the following 17 "grosbeaks":
Typical cardinal-grosbeaks
Masked cardinal-grosbeaks
Blue cardinal-grosbeaks
Three additional species of "grosbeaks" have long been placed in the Cardinalidae, but actually seem to be closer to the tanager family ( Thraupidae):
Finally, the weaver family ( Ploceidae) contains a species called the thick-billed weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons).