Sighting Record for Utah

Common name:	Brown-capped Rosy-Finch
Scientific name:	Leucosticte australis
Date:	3/16/2025
Time:	10:25
Length of time observed:	2 minutes
Number:	1
Age:	1st winter
Sex:	unknown
Location:	Powder Mountain Village Feeders
County:	Weber
Latilong:	41.37113787 , -111.76817000
Elevation:	approx 8500 ft.
Distance to bird:	10 feet
Optical equipment:	8 x 43 Zen Ray binoculars, and Vortex Diamondback HD 10 x 42
Weather:	actively snowing and high winds
Light Conditions:	lighting was morning cloud cover conditions.
Description: Size of bird:	Rosy Finch size around 6 inches
(Description:) Basic Shape:	basic finch shape
(Description:) Overall Pattern:	light browns, grays, pinks, and blacks
(Description:) Bill Type:	yellow finch like bill
(Description:) Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics:	A group of three birders headed up to Powder Mountain with the goal to see what birds were coming into the feeders that Kris Purdy keeps stocked during the winter. As we arrived at the location, despite nice weather below, we were greeted with winds and snow, which turned out to be ideal for the rosy-finches we watched at close proximity. There was a sizable flock of rosy-finches that were rotating between feeding on the ground, flying off, and returning. We put down around 100 rosy-finches because that's the most we saw at one given time. While we were looking through the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches that were hopping around at eye level about ten to fifteen feet in front of us by a feeder, both Clarissa Chipman and I quickly noticed a different bird that stuck out. It was a much lighter brown, and the light brown feathering had frosted edges to them. It stuck out in comparison to the other rich brown Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches nearby. Both Clarissa and I were recently in New Mexico looking for Brown-capped Rosy-Finches, and had studied up on them in hopes of confidently identifying one if we saw one. We both remarked that this bird looked a lot like a Brown-capped and began to discuss out loud the features we were seeing. The other features we noticed as we discussed what we were looking at was the lack of gray in the crown. There was some faint gray near the forehead, but it was minimal and there was no sharp line forming a cap at the supercilium like would be expected on a Gray-crowned. It was so faint that it seemed to just blend into the brown in the face. It had a black forehead above the yellow bill. The pink in the wing was also noticed and it was a light pink, very faint. We also had Casey Richardson with us and tried to get her onto the bird to take a photo as she had a camera. She was not able to get a photo. It would after a minute jump out of view and we lost it. We stuck around and got a second chance to look at the bird as it hoppe d again at eye level at around 10 to 15 feet from us. We noticed all the same features again and were confident that it was a Brown-capped. We again tried to get Casey to get a photo but her camera blurred so many birds in the flock, and unfortunately never focused on the correct bird. It went out of view again and we waited around for an hour in hopes of it returning. The weather began to improve, and as it did the flock size became smaller and smaller. Unfortunately we didn't come prepared for the weather, so we gave up due to cold and not being able to find it again.
Song or call & method of delivery:	no obvious call was noticed from the singled out bird
Behavior:	hopping at eye level actively feeding on seeds under a feeder with other rosy finch species
Habitat:	aspen forest near ski resort and condos with a well stocked feeder intended for rosy finches.
Similar species and how were they eliminated:	Gray-crowned Rosy Finch- This was the most likely bird that it could be mistaken for. The light brown of our bird was too light compared to an adult gray crowned, and too rich for a first winter. Also the big difference was the lack of gray in the crown that this bird had, and the fact that there was no obvious line at the supercilium splitting the brown from the gray. I know that there is a middle area where you shouldn't confidently identify a bird, but the gray was so minimal and in line with countless photos we looked at on the Macaulay Library. We also had nearly 100 gray crowned we watched for an hour, including first winter birds to make comparisons too at the time. Black-crowned Rosy Finch- We viewed with this flock 2 adult black rosy finches and one first year black rosy finch that gave us a good chance to be able to eliminate the bird we saw was a Black-rosy Finch. A Brown-capped Rosy Finch would not be a rich black on the back of the chest, or a grayish black as the first winter bird we saw had. Also the pink in the wing is more extensive and the gray in the crown in more prominent that forms a nice cap line at the supercilium.
Previous experience with this & similar species:	no experience with brown capped, but extensive experience with black and gray-crowned rosy finches between the observers.
References consulted:	Sibley, Ebird, Macaulay Libray,
Description from:	Notes made later
Observer:	KC Childs
Observer's address:	Orem, UT
Observer's e-mail address:	**
Other observers who independently identified this bird:	Clarissa Chipman
Date prepared:	March 28, 2025
Additional material:
Additional comments:	We discussed with one another about what we saw at the time, in the car on the way home. I went home and wrote up notes on everything we had seen and discussed that day. We waited a week for Casey Richardson to get the hundreds of photos she took uploaded so we could scan through them, and unfortunately the bird was not captured on camera.