More Black and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches today Saturday November 12

[Rosyfinch]

Mary Lou and I visited the Crest House early this afternoon. There were two other birders who were visiting from Houston. At 1:00 PM we saw 5 or 6 rosy-finches. I identified and photographed one Gray-crowned and two Blacks, and two or three others flew off before they could be pinned down as to species. Will post photos when I get a more reliable Internet connection.

When I got back to our room at Kirtland AFB we had this e-mail about an earlier observation this morning:

Ken

Wanted to let you know that Jeff and I had 3 Gray-crowned and 1 Black Rosy-finches at 8:30 this am. We then saw the Black Rosy-finch come back by himself around 9:30. He stayed for about 5 minutes. He ate then sat in the tree behind the feeder -- then moved over to a dead tree where we had good looks at him.
Thanks for all your help. I know we took a chance as it was early for seeing them but I think  that made it even more special !!

Marian & Jeff


Here is Marian's photo of two Black Rosy-Finches at the feeder.



Photo copyright 2011 Marian Kraus, used with permission

[Rosyfinch]

Well, at first we thought this was a Gray-crowned, but close examination reveals it to be another Black Rosy-Finch. See subsequent post with a discussion of its identification.