Sighting Record for Utah

Common name:	Brown-capped Rosy Finch
Scientific name:	Leucosticte australis
Date:	12/22/2025
Time:	3:48 PM
Length of time observed:	15 minutes
Number:	22 conservative estimate
Age:	all ages
Sex:	M and F
Location:	Location: La Sal Mountain Loop Road San Juan Co
County:	San Juan
Latilong:
Elevation:
Distance to bird:	as close as 10 Feet
Optical equipment:	multiple bins, cameras and a Leupold SX-4 scope
Weather:	blue skies, calm winds, sun at our back
Light Conditions:	bright
Description: Size of bird:	unable to measure - finch sized
(Description:) Basic Shape:	finch shaped
(Description:) Overall Pattern:	brown
(Description:) Bill Type:	unable to measure - finch
(Description:) Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics:	After a full day of considerable effort, and mileage covered, we were headed back to Pinhook Overlook, a good historical BCRF site, when we flushed a considerable flock of rosy finches on a grassy hillside, just off the road. this was on the San Jaun side of the La Sal Loop road. we quickly pulled over and jumped out of the car, where the birds re landed directly in front of us. at first we began firing off photos in fear the birds would fly away at any moment. as time went on, we were able to view the birds through bins, and scope, and take our time to assess the group in front of us. quite quickly, it was apparent that we were dealing with a group of majority BCRF. The very first bird I laid eyes on through scope was an adult BCRF. The crown was black with diffused gray feathers through to the nape, with gray feathers showing dark centers, giving the crown a "scaly" look. the forehead was dark to black. the supercillium was mostly dark centered feathers with gray edging. the ear coverts were cinnamon brown (as described in birds of the world (didn't compare to the cinnamon in my cupboard at the time - to be transparent)). The nape was a mixture of brown and gray - as this is where the diffused, dark centered gray feathers ended and the brown began. the nostril color was not visible. The upper mandible was a brownish orange (not the fruit) probably somewhere around RGB; 203, 155, 71. The lower mandible more or less matched. The chin and throat was a similar brown to the body, although certainly darker. the Breast was a similar brown as described as the ear coverts, although lighter and less rich, which continued down into the upper belly. The belly was a rather vibrant pink, down into the vent and undertail coverts, which were a mixture of white, pink, and brown, although hard to see most of the time. The mantle mostly dark feathers with pale edging. The scapulars were similar to the mantle feathers. the lesser and median coverts were also similar to the mantle feathers, although the greater coverts showed dark centered, pink edged feathers with some white. the tertials were black with white edging. the secondaries and primaries were black with some white edging but mostly pink edging. the rump and UpperTC's (visible only in flight photos) were black centered feathers with bright pink edging creating a striking black and pink look. the tail feathers were mostly black, with slight white edging. as we scanned through the flock, we were able to pick out quite a few adults that matched these characteristics. I would guestimate that 80% of the birds deemed BCRF matched those descriptors. Of the other 20%, we were finding mostly birds that could be described similarly to the adults, but seemingly more drab overall. importantly, they all still showed some level of pink undersides, with a combination of black crown feathers, with dark centers, and gray edging, creating a scaly look. I'm unsure of ages on these 20%, as the molt timing of all three rosy finch species in the US is rather confusing, or even unstudied as per Birds of the World. of the group, there was atleast 2 individuals that could be confidently ID'd as HY birds. Of these birds, The crown was Drab Brown with virtually no gray feathers through to the nape. the forehead was drab brown. the supercillium was drab brown. the ear coverts were a similarly drab brown. The nape was also drab brown. the nostril color was not visible. The upper mandible was a brownish orange (not the fruit) probably somewhere around RGB; 203, 155, 71. The lower mandible more or less matched. The chin and throat were a similar brown to the body, although certainly darker. the Breast was a similar brown as described as the ear coverts, although lighter and less rich, which continued down into the upper belly. The belly was also drab brown, matching the rest of the body, but with white feather edging down into the UTC's. The mantle mostly dark feathers with pale edging. The scapulars were similar to the mantle feathers. the lesser and median coverts were also similar to the mantle feathers, although the greater coverts showed dark centered feathers with some white. the tertials were dark brown with white edging. the secondaries and primaries were dark brown with some white edging. the rump and UpperTC's were not visible. the tail feathers were mostly black, with slight white edging. these birds lacked pink everywhere, replaced by gray, and lacked all gray or black feathering in the crown. Is there a character limit on this thing? In the following days after this find, a few reports came in with large numbers of GCRF. this was NOT our experience. in searching our photos thoroughly, plus the identifications at the time in the field, we could only for sure find 4 TOTAL sure fire GCRF, including 2 Hepburn's SSP. there was also one bird present, that we did not get adequate photos of. the crown feathers look to be possibly described as "ash gray" lacking dark centers - a GCRF trait. At the time of sighting, we concluded that 50% of all rosy finch species present could be confidently ID'd as BCRF, although later in reviewal of photos, I'm confident it was more than 50%. the checklist numbers were edited to reflect this. after about 15 minutes, the rosy finch group picked up and headed north east, seemingly up slope, likely to roost for the night. (see photos)
Song or call & method of delivery:	a constant barrage of rosy finch chirp calls, although not significantly different than the BLRF and GCRF calls.
Behavior:	frantic foraging on roadside grasses.
Habitat:	sage, juniper, and grasses on the mountain benches.
Similar species and how were they eliminated:	GCRF: due to a miss ID from me and a rosy finch bander in the last year, it seems were all a little afraid to make this ID. my takeaway from that mishap, was that for hatch year and second year birds, the views and photos need to show a certain quality in order to be confidently ID'd as BCRF. that being dark centered crown feathers that CAN have gray edging, giving the crown a scaly look. vs the specific Alta bird which showed "ash gray" crown feathers with no dark centers (even as drab and low contrasting as that birds crown feathers were). from Jason Kitting - "in young GCRF (especially females) the crown is often incomplete and there may only be gray on the sides of the crown, but each gray feather in this area is completely gray without a dark center." all the HY/FY birds counted and photographed as BCRF's on our checklist could be described as having dark centered, gray edged crown feathers. as far as adults go, if the bird shows adequate pink undersides and wing feathers (making it an adult) in combo with a diffused black to gray crown with low contrast, then the ID is simply BCRF. sufficiently ruling out GCRF. we have an excellent photo of a GCRF directly next to a BCRF in the checklist, that really highlight these differences, along with the duller brown that a BCRF should show in comparison to the more richly colored brown of a GCRF. BLRF: our birds simply lacked the dark brown to black body feathering of a BLRF. this includes HY birds which by december, will still be significantly darker than any of our birds ID'd as BCRF's. Hybrids: aside from the fact that its highly unlikely we had 20+ hybrids in a group of rosy finches, considering how rare they are, the diffused crown feathering, dark centers with gray edging, is not a trait of BLRF - GCRF hybrids. and as far as I'm aware, BCRF are not known to hybridize whatsoever.
Previous experience with this & similar species:	BCRF; no previous experience. GCRF; thousands all over utah. BLRF; hundreds between Utah co and Alta, and Powder mountain.
References consulted:	Sibley, Birds of the World, Macauley Library.
Description from:	Notes taken at the time of the sighting From photo(s) taken at the time of the sighting
Observer:	McKay Olson
Observer's address:
Observer's e-mail address:	**
Other observers who independently identified this bird:	Asher Lee, Esther Sumner.
Date prepared:	1/28/26
Additional material:	Photos eBird checklist
Additional comments:	this took me hours. perhaps it could have been more simple. please consider any mention of size and color as subjective. these things are far too much work to watch them burn up in flames and subsequently erased from Ebird data (so unbelievably frustrating).