Michigan, Be On The Lookout For This Nearly Extinct Bird

Part of living in Michigan is knowing you're going to see a lot of different birds. My grandma always had out bird feeders and bird baths and would keep a bird ID field guide next to the window so you could know what birds you're looking at.

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Birds come and go with the season, resulting in different birds around the state throughout the year. Well, almost every bird migrates with the season. There's one bird that researchers from Pennsylvania are desperately asking Michiganders to help them find after its population has drastically declined in recent years.

⬇️50 BIRDS AROUND MICHIGAN YOU'VE SEEN BEFORE⬇️

Be on the lookout for the Evening Grosbeak.

The Evening Grosbeak

The Evening Grosbeak is a "heavyset finch" that is known for its yellow body, large bill, and stripe on its forehead. Female Evening Grosbeaks, meanwhile, are mostly gray with black and white wings, green beak, and no forehead stripe.

The "Road to Recovery" Initiative

As reported by WCMU, a group of researchers part of the Road to Recovery (R2R) Initiative has identified that this species of bird has lost almost 90% of its population in North America, and they want to know why. Unlike many of the seasonal birds here, the Evening Grosbeak doesn't migrate with the seasons, but rather migrates based on food availability.

Wherever their food is, they'll go.  According to the R2R, Northern Michigan has become one of these places for the birds, and the team is asking nature-lovers to contact the U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Lab if anyone sees them, so they can find, capture, and tag the birds. 

READ MORE: Michigan’s Toughest Birds: Who Stays North in the Winter? |

Tagging these birds and tracking their migratory patterns will help the team understand the population decline. So, when you're out this summer, keep your eyes peeled.