A set of Gray-crowned Rosy-finch eggs from California, from 1938, in the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology collections.
The Black Rosy Finch is one of three similar species of rosy-finches in North America — the Black, Gray-crowned, and Brown-capped Rosy-finch. Breeding in high-altitude tundra habitats from northern New Mexico north through the Rocky Mountains, into Canada, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and the Bering Sea, in winter the birds disperse great distances in search of food. They are most frequently observed when they congregate in large mixed-species flocks at feeders in winter.
Like polar bears, Gyrfalcons, and White-winged Diuca-Finches (previously discussed here: https://www.facebook.com/WFVZmuseum/posts/3468854873128255), ongoing research reported in Audubon Magazine, which can be found here, suggests that climate change poses significant threats to these poorly understood, cold-adapted mountain specialists.
Formerly considered a single species classified under the old name Leucostictes arctoa — now reserved for the Old World species — all of the WFVZ rosy-finch material is from either the Gray-crowned or Brown-capped species, not Black Rosy-finch.
