The Evening Grosbeak Working Group plans to capture, band and tag evening grosbeaks in northern Michigan sometime between this month and April, according to a news release from the group.

But first they have to figure out where these large finches, with males boldly decked out in black and yellow, might be in the region.

They’re asking the public to report if they’ve had evening grosbeaks coming to their yard feeders.

It’s part of The Road to Recovery initiative that aims to figure out why the species’ population has plummeted.

(David Yeany II photo) A male evening grosbeak at Sax-Zim Bog in Minnesota in February 2023 that has been fitted with a brown satellite tag with solar panel and antenna as part of The Road to Recovery initiative.

“For decades, the evening grosbeak was a beloved winter visitor to backyard bird feeders,” according to the release. “Recent studies have found that since 1970, the evening grosbeak has lost more than 90% of its North American population.”

Evening grosbeaks are among the “irruptive” birds that don’t follow a usual “south in winter” migration pattern but instead will move based on the availability of seed and other food. The winter of 2022-23 they were abundant in this region, then scarce last year.

Why have populations of the evening grosbeak taken a nosedive? That’s not fully understood yet, according to the R2R’s Evening Grosbeak webpage, https://r2rbirds.org/tipping-point-species/evening-grosbeak/.

“But several factors have been cited as playing a role: fluctuations in spruce budworm populations — a key breeding season food source, mature forest alteration and loss, collision mortalities, disease and climate change effects on northern forests.”

David Yeany II, avian ecologist in the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program at the Western PA Conservancy, is among the leaders trying to get answers to why the species is struggling.

His group works to band and tag evening grosbeaks with satellite and radio transmitters to track their movements and link populations across all seasons and areas, the news release states.

“To date, the project has color-banded hundreds of grosbeaks from non-breeding populations in Maine, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Utah. Transmitters deployed on over 200 of those birds are showing linkages to areas in Manitoba, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec for eastern birds, and British Columbia, Idaho and Wyoming for western birds.”

Now their efforts will turn to Michigan. Residents who have evening grosbeaks regularly coming to their feeders this winter are asked to email that information to Yeany at dyeany@paconserve.org and cc Phil Huber, wildlife biologist and the Michigan contact, at MiWildlifeBio@gmail.com. Anyone with questions can also contact Huber.

Birders and backyard bird watchers can also help by reporting if they see a color-banded or tagged evening grosbeak. “Each observation of one of these birds will add valuable information to help connect the dots as to why this bird has declined so much,” the news release states.

Those sightings should be sent to the USGS Bird Banding Lab at www.reportband.gov and emailed to Yeany at dyeany@paconserve.org.

If possible, note:

— Location (latitude/longitude coordinates or address) and date. Decimal degree format is preferred for latitude/longitude.

— Sex of bird — male or female (all birds have adult-looking plumage after October).

— Band color combination — As an example, right leg: white over metal; left leg: black over green. All banded birds will have a metal band plus up to three colored bands. Even partial combinations can be useful and photos are even better, the group advised.

— If the bird has a transmitter.

Posts on the Upper Peninsula Birding Facebook page indicate several evening grosbeaks photographed at a feeder near Munising Jan. 23 but not a lot of activity otherwise. This was not expected to be a good year for winter finches, though later in the winter might see some movement.

So keep watch and let the group know if these flashy finches turn up in your neighborhood. It could become part of the study.

Betsy Bloom can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 85240, or bbloom@ironmountaindailynews.com.