Birds of St Paul: Grey-crowned Rosy Finch

The bird which confounded me most was the Grey-crowned Rosy Finch. Even by the end of the trip I still couldn't get over the gigantic size of the bird. The Pribilof and Aleutian versions of this finch are nearly twice the size of their mainland cousins.

Their motto has to be "No Fear" as they would often buzz past at high speed before settling down to forage within arms reach. A true specialist in extreme living, this finch has the distinction of being the highest breeding bird in North America. When other bird have long ago sought cover or lower elevations to hide from winter storms, the Rosy finch can still be found navigating the blustery high winds and snow storms with apparent ease.