| Brown-capped rosy finch | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
| Genus: | Leucosticte |
| Species: | L. australis |
| Binomial name | |
| Leucosticte australis Ridgway, 1874 | |
 | |
| blue: breeding; yellow: wintering | |
The brown-capped rosy finch (Leucosticte australis) is a medium-sized finch endemic to North America. [2]
Contents
Adults are brown on the head, back, and breast. The belly and rump are pink, with additional pink shading on the wings and tail. [2] [3] The pink is pronounced on the male but more subdued on the female. [2] The forehead is black or grayish brown. [3] The bill is yellow in winter and black in summer. [2] These birds have short black legs and a long forked tail.
Their breeding habitat is mountain peaks in the central Rocky Mountains of the United States. [2] [4] They build a cup nest in a cavity on a cliff, or re-use abandoned cliff swallow nests. In winter, these birds migrate short distances to lower elevations. [2] [4]
These birds can be found in alpine snowfields and also at feeders, especially in the winter. [5] They forage on the ground, but may fly to catch insects in flight. [2] They mainly eat seeds from weeds and grasses and insects. They often feed in small flocks with other rosy finches. [5]
At one time, the three North American rosy finches were considered to be one species. [6]
Despite fears that the population of this bird is declining, an analysis published in 2023 found a healthy population with more than three times the birds estimated in a 2016 report. [6]
