Rosy-Finch ID query

[Eric Hynes]

Hello Colorado Birders:

I've been thoroughly enjoying my first winter in CO (Telluride) being overrun by rosy-finches. I grossly underestimated my budget for hulled sunflower. Peak numbers on a daily basis range between 200 and 550 rosy-finches. Picking out Black and Gray-crowned among the Brown Capped Rosy-Finches has been a delightful game of Where's Waldo.

When it comes to Gray-crowned, Hepburn's like this one: https://flic.kr/p/QNkVhE are easy to spot. And conspicuous adults of the interior race like this one: https://flic.kr/p/NDMAEL are also fairly obvious.

Here is a straight forward adult Brown-capped: https://flic.kr/p/QNmnvw and a first winter bird: https://flic.kr/p/PCbF5z

Where the water gets murky for me and where I am asking for input is an individual like this: https://flic.kr/p/QNphK3

I find I spot the nonBrown-capped birds easiest using my naked eye, not binoculars. They tend to catch my eye because the supercilium is cleaner/brighter gray and contrasts more conspicuously with a darker brown cheek and chest.

The bird in question jumped out to my eye because of its brighter gray supercilium contrasting with a pretty dark cheek. However, the gray doesn't wrap up onto the crown and nape as much as I would expect. Where in the spectrum does this individual fall? I am inclined to call it a Gray-crowned but could it be at the extreme end of Brown-capped? I am struggling to find references that clean this mess up. Perhaps rosy-finch sp. is the best label for these tweeners.

Thanks in advance for any comments or references.

Cheers,

Eric

.....................

Eric Hynes

Telluride, CO

---------------------

Field Guides Birding Tours

www.fieldguides.com

http://fieldguides.com/guides/eric-hynes

[pygm...@frii.com]

Hi Eric,
I have banded over 4000 rosy finches and find almost no overlap in
species. Having banded all of those finches there has been maybe 4-5 that
seemed to be hybrids. However, you might want to be aware that some adult
females brown-capped finches will have very little pink on them. Last year
I caught a three year old female that looked like a juvenile. I know it was
a three year old because I banded it at my house and recaptured it there.

Have you noticed any banded birds?

Scott Rashid
Estes Park

On Mon, 2 Jan 2017 22:51:16 -0700, Eric Hynes <erich...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hello Colorado Birders:
> Ive been thoroughly enjoying my first winter in CO (Telluride) being

> overrun by rosy-finches. I grossly underestimated my budget for hulled
> sunflower. Peak numbers on a daily basis range between 200 and 550
> rosy-finches. Picking out Black and Gray-crowned among the Brown Capped

> Rosy-Finches has been a delightful game of Wheres Waldo.
> When it comes to Gray-crowned, Hepburns like this
> one: https://flic.kr/p/QNkVhE [1] are easy to spot. And conspicuous
> adults of the interior race like this one: https://flic.kr/p/NDMAEL [2]

> are also fairly obvious.
> Here is a straight forward adult Brown-capped: https://flic.kr/p/QNmnvw

> [3] and a first winter bird: https://flic.kr/p/PCbF5z [4]

> Where the water gets murky for me and where I am asking for input is an

> individual like this: https://flic.kr/p/QNphK3 [5]

> I find I spot the nonBrown-capped birds easiest using my naked eye, not
> binoculars. They tend to catch my eye because the supercilium is
> cleaner/brighter gray and contrasts more conspicuously with a darker
> brown cheek and chest.
> The bird in question jumped out to my eye because of its brighter gray
> supercilium contrasting with a pretty dark cheek. However, the gray

> doesnt wrap up onto the crown and nape as much as I would expect. Where

> in the spectrum does this individual fall? I am inclined to call it a
> Gray-crowned but could it be at the extreme end of Brown-capped? I am
> struggling to find references that clean this mess up. Perhaps
rosy-finch
> sp. is the best label for these tweeners.
> Thanks in advance for any comments or references.
> Cheers,Eric.....................Eric Hynes
> Telluride, CO---------------------Field Guides Birding

> Tourswww.fieldguides.com [6]http://fieldguides.com/guides/eric-hynes [7]
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> [1] https://flic.kr/p/QNkVhE
> [2] https://flic.kr/p/NDMAEL
> [3] https://flic.kr/p/QNmnvw
> [4] https://flic.kr/p/PCbF5z
> [5] https://flic.kr/p/QNphK3
> [6] http://www.fieldguides.com
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