General

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch: Medium-sized finch, pink-red overall with black forehead and brown head, breast, and back. Bill is black in summer and yellow with black tip in winter. Female and juvenile lack pink on shoulders and rumps.

Range and Habitat

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch: Resident in the Rocky Mountains from Wyoming to New Mexico; descends to lower elevations near breeding areas in winter. Lives in alpine tundra and meadows; winters in nearby lowlands.

Breeding and Nesting

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch: Three to five white eggs are laid in a nest made of moss, grass, weeds, and rootlets, lined with fur and feathers, and built on a cliff ridge, rock crevice, cave, or under a building eave. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch: Eats mostly seeds, but takes some insects in summer; forages on the ground.

Readily Eats

Peanuts, Suet, Millet, Fruit, Sunflower Seeds (hulled)

Vocalization

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch: Song is a twittering canary-like song, given in courtship flight by male.

Similar Species

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch: Gray crowned Rosy-Finch and Black Rosy-Finch have gray head patches.