7 November 2026

Posts Tagged ‘gray-crowned rosy-finch’

Sun, Snow

Monday, March 7th, 2022
Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 07 March 2022.
Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay.

A morning hike with Captain Jack. A few more hikers yesterday afternoon tramped down the trails we snowshoe-broke in the morning, so they were a bit easier to hike. Colder temps but more sun. No breeze to speak of.

Not the big bird numbers of yesterday, but more species. Notable were corvids (absent yesterday) and another pair of rosy-finches under a feeder across from the trailhead.

More snow due tomorrow evening, so Wednesday could be another wintry one. Which means perhaps still more rosy-finches. Which would be fun.

Grandeur Peak Area List
At 9:00 MST, I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Spotted Towhee (v)
2. Pine Siskin**
3. Dark-eyed Junco*
4. Northern Flicker** (v)
5. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
6. American Robin** (v)
7. House Finch* (v)
8. Rock Pigeon*
9. Black-billed Magpie** (v)
10. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
11. Gray-crowned Rosy-finch

Elsewhere

12. House Sparrow (v)
13. Song Sparrow
14. European Starling
15. Eurasian Collared-dove (v)
16. Lesser Goldfinch (v)

Mammals

Mule Deer

(v) Voice only
*Also Elsewhere
**Voice only Elsewhere

Rosy-finch

Sunday, March 6th, 2022
Gray-crowned Rosy-finch, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 06 March 2022.
Gray-crowned Rosy-finch.

It snowed about four times as much as forecast overnight—maybe sixteen inches—and continued snowing lightly throughout the morning. So dog and I didn’t hit the trail until midday. For just the second time this winter, I wore snowshoes.

Just as we were about to head up, I took a couple photos of a little bird in a tree, then said aloud something like, “I have no idea what that is.” Didn’t think much about it, though, until I saw the photos. Not a bird I knew. Searched online without much luck, so I leaned (not for the first time) on my expert bird ID friend Derek Lovich of Freeport Wild Bird Supply, who quickly pronounced it a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch—a lifer for me.

Not many species today, but scores of siskins and dozens of juncos. And just the one rosy-finch. (Also about 30 mule deer.)

More snow coming Tuesday, or so I hear.

Grandeur Peak Area List
At 11:58 MST, I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Spotted Towhee (v)
2. Pine Siskin
3. Dark-eyed Junco
4. Gray-crowned Rosy-finch‡
5. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
6. Mourning Dove
7. Rock Pigeon

Elsewhere

8. American Robin
9. House Finch
10. Song Sparrow (v)

Mammals

Mule Deer

(v) Voice only
*Also Elsewhere
**Voice only Elsewhere

‡Lifer

 
Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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