For the third time in the past six days I have gone back to photograph the birds at Red Rocks Trading Post. While the photography was good the last two times, until today I got there too late to see the rosy-finches.
The come down from their homes in the cliffs around 7 or 8 a.m. Today my friend Sharon and I were ready.
When We Got to the Trading Post This Morning, The Rosy-Finches Were Still on the Cliffs
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Soon after we got there, 40 or 50 of them flew en masse to the bird feeders in front of us. This is one of the few places anywhere where we can see all three species of rosy-finches. We saw and photographed at least two rosy-finch species today.
Most of the rosy finches we saw were Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finches. This is the most common species.
An Un-rosy Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finch
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A Slightly Rosy Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finch
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A Rosy Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finch
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Both the Brown-Capped Rosy-Finch and the Black Rosy-Finch are uncommon. The bird below might be a Brown-Capped Rosy-Finch, but it is probably a Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finch.
A Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finch or a Brown-Capped One
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The least common is the Black Rosy-Finch. We saw one of them today.
A Black Rosy-Finch
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Until today I had seen only one rosy-finch. Today was indeed rosy.
1 response so far ↓
1 Fran Stearns // Mar 2, 2012 at 10:46 am
Your REALLY rosy Rosy Finch is a challenge. When I’ve finished ‘Young Grebes’ I may rise to it!
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