Leucosticte tephrocotis
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The gray-crowned rosy finch or gray-crowned rosy-finch (Leucosticte tephrocotis) is a species of passerine bird in the family Fringillidae native to Alaska, western Canada, and the north-western United States. Due to its remote and rocky alpine habitat it is rarely seen. There are currently six recognized subspecies. It is one of four species of rosy finches.
The gray-crowned rosy finch was first classified by English ornithologist William Swainson in 1832. This bird has been thought to form a superspecies with three other rosy finches (also known as mountain finch): black rosy finch (L. atrata) and the brown-capped rosy finch (L. australis), all of which were classified as the same species as the Asian rosy finch (L. arctoa) from 1983 to 1993. Recent mitochondrial DNA evidence shows the rosy finches are all indeed very closely related and can be easily confused with one another. Along with one Asian rosy finch and two Asian mountain finches, the three North American rosy finches form the mountain finch genus Leucosticte. Alternative common names include: Roselin à tête grise (in French), Schwarzstirn-Schneegimpel (in German), and Pinzón Montano Nuquigrís (in Spanish... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Kenai Fjords National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch sighting in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on a given day, based on 201 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 108th most-seen of the 152 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on a given day, against under 5% in September to June, the lowest months. Those are among Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain a month against 190 mm in January.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch sightings, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Glacier National Park (United States, about 10%), Jasper National Park (Canada, about 10%) and Banff National Park (Canada, under 5%).
Same family: Fringillidae
The closest relatives of the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch that you can see in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (family Fringillidae, Finches, Euphonias, and Allies) are Lesser Goldfinch (about 30%), House Finch (about 30%) and Purple Finch (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch is recorded against all the birds logged in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (201 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
