The Pine Grosbeak is a Blue Jay sized bird that is very plump and has a long tail. Males are rosy-red and are often mistaken for the much smaller White-winged Crossbill. Both species are similar in colour and have two white bars, but you can easily tell them apart by noting their bills. Immature and female Pine Grosbeaks are much grayer than the males, with heads, rumps and underparts that are tinged with russet in the immatures and a cooked squash colour in the females.

As their name implies, these birds love pine trees. Even their genus name Pinicola is Latin for pine dweller. One of the best ways to draw Pine Grosbeaks to your yard is to hang a feeder full of sunflower seeds in a pine or other evergreen tree. Even yards without feeders or evergreen trees are sometimes visited by Pine Grosbeaks to feed on the berry bushes or the buds of maples, birches and elms. I have yet to be able to entice a Pine Grosbeak to feed from my hand, but I believe it is possible as they are very tame, passive birds.

In Newfoundland many people refer to these birds by the name of "Mope" because of their habit of often sitting motionless. Fortunately this behaviour provides bird lovers with a wonderful opportunity to obtain good long looks at Pine Grosbeaks. By watching the behaviour of the Pine Grosbeak you may also begin to discover other things about this species as well. For example, you may notice that they often spend a very long time feeding, longer than is typical of most birds their size. The reason for this is that Pine Grosbeaks have a gular pouch that can be stuffed full of food when a good source is found. Perhaps this is why they can also "mope" around for such a long time apparently doing nothing.