Guide to North American Birds
Conservation status Fairly widespread and common, numbers probably stable. Most of its breeding range is remote from impacts of human disturbance.
Family Finches
Habitat Barren tundra, alpine snowfields, rocky islands (off Alaska); winters in open country. Breeds in barren rocky tundra of high mountains and of Alaskan islands; mountain birds often are associated with snowfields. Winters in similar habitats, also in mountain valleys, open plains, towns.
The most widespread of our three species of rosy-finches, the Gray-crown nests from the islands of western Alaska south to the high mountains of California and northern Montana. Different populations are variable in size and in the amount of gray on the heads of the males.

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Feeding Behavior

Forages mostly on ground or on snow. Sometimes flies up to catch insects in mid-air.


Eggs

4-5, sometimes 3-6. May tend to lay more eggs in some Alaskan populations. Eggs white, rarely with a few reddish brown dots. Incubation is by female only, probably about 14 days. Young: Both parents feed the nestlings. Young probably leave the nest about 14-15 days after hatching, but this may vary among populations. 1 brood per year in mountains, often 2 among Alaskan island birds.


Young

Both parents feed the nestlings. Young probably leave the nest about 14-15 days after hatching, but this may vary among populations. 1 brood per year in mountains, often 2 among Alaskan island birds.

Diet

Mostly seeds and insects. Feeds mainly on seeds of grasses and weeds, especially in winter, when these may make up virtually entire diet. Also eats some buds and leaves, and eats many insects in summer. Young are fed mostly insects. Will eat salt.


Nesting

One courtship display may involve male facing female, half-spreading and lowering his wings, and then raising and lowering them slowly. Nest: Typically placed in a niche among boulders, under a rock, or in a crevice in a cliff, sometimes in a hole in a building. Nest (built by female) is a rather bulky cup of grass, rootlets, lichens, moss, lined with fine grass and sometimes with feathers and animal hair.

Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.

Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds

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Migration

Those on the Aleutian and Pribilof islands in Alaska are permanent residents. Mountain populations farther south may move to lower elevations in winter; sometimes stray eastward, well out onto plains.

  • All Seasons - Common
  • All Seasons - Uncommon
  • Breeding - Common
  • Breeding - Uncommon
  • Winter - Common
  • Winter - Uncommon
  • Migration - Common
  • Migration - Uncommon

See a fully interactive migration map for this species on the Bird Migration Explorer.

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Songs and Calls

Flying flocks give harsh cheep, cheep notes.
Audio © Lang Elliott, Bob McGuire, Kevin Colver, Martyn Stewart and others.
Learn more about this sound collection.