Nests in loose colonies, primarily in open coniferous or mixed forests (Dawson 1997). Feeds on seeds, vegetable matter, and insects, primarily taken from the canopy of conifer or conifer-deciduous forests (Dawson 1997). Although less common, foraging also occurs in middle levels, brush, weedy fields, and meadows (Dawson 1997, Kaufman 1996).

Nest is usually in a conifer, i.e. hemlock, fir, or spruce, and concealed in the foliage on the distal end of a horizontal branch (Dawson 1997, Harrison 1975). Dawson (1997) describes the nest as often built just below another branch, thus offering 'further protection of nest occupants from precipitation, insolation, and radiational losses of heat to night sky.' The nest is generally made up of twigs, grasses, leaves, strips of bark, rootlets, with a lining consisting of, but not restricted to mosses, animal hair, and feathers (Dawson 1997, Kaufman 1996). Feeds on the seeds of: conifers, such as Eastern hemlock, red spruce, pine species (Alsop 1991); deciduous trees, including birch and alder; and various annuals, mainly composites and grasses (Dawson 1997, Kaufman 1996). Also eats buds, soft stems, flower parts, leaves of forbs, and gleans insects (Dawson 1997, Kaufman 1996).

NATURE SERVE GLOBAL HABITAT COMMENTS: