Like the other rosy-finches, the Brown-capped Rosy-Finch is a bird of the high mountains, breeding above timberline. It has the smallest range of the three American species, being found primarily in Colorado.
This species often comes to bird feeders. Find out more about what this bird likes to eat and what feeder is best by using the Project FeederWatch Common Feeder Birds bird list.
It usually takes a female Brown-capped Rosy-Finch one to three days to construct a nest (the male does not help). At one site, however, construction took 18 days because wind completely removed the nest twice. Another female took 11 to 14 days to build her nest because the nest material kept sliding off the sloping nest ledge.
The Brown-capped Rosy-Finch lines its nest with grass, feathers, and fur. It also has been recorded using, cotton, pieces of cloth, ravelings of burlap, and, in one nest, a piece of blasting fuse.
Rosy-finches build their nests in crevices where they stay completely in the shade. One Brown-capped Rosy-Finch nest was frozen in ice each night when the water trickling through the site froze.
The oldest recorded Brown-capped Rosy-Finch was a male, and at least 5 years, 11 months old, when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Colorado.
Finches
