Notes on Rosy-Finch Taxonomy, Distribution, and Identification

The genus Leucosticte is currently understood as comprising 27 species and subspecies of Rosy-Finches and Mountain-Finches. Most of these taxa occur in northern Asia, but eight (or, according to some authorities, nine) are found in North America, and four—two monotypic species and two well-marked subspecies of a third—could conceivably be expected in Arizona. Black Rosy-Finch has been the most frequently reported in Arizona; there are records, too, of Gray-crowned and one of its subspecies, Hepburn’s Rosy-Finch. There are as of yet no acceptable reports of Brown-capped Rosy-Finch in the state.