The Common Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus) is an eastern summer visitor that reached Sweden from the east during the latter half of the twentieth century. The adult male, from his third calendar year onward, is among the most colourful of the region's small birds, with a crimson-red head, breast and rump set against brownish wings showing two indistinct pale wingbars, while females and younger males are far more anonymous in olive-grey-green and brown tones with faint streaking — a large, dark eye standing out in a plain, expressionless face is a useful mark on these brown birds. It measures about 14–15 cm, in the same size class as a house sparrow, with a short, powerful, domed finch bill; in the field, the adult male gives the impression of a sparrow-sized bird dipped in red, while the brown birds are easily overlooked among other finches and sparrows.
The song is melodic and easy to recognise: a short, clear, rising whistled phrase of four to five notes, often likened to a wolf-whistle and rendered "vi-tchi-vi-tchiu," while the call is a clear, somewhat questioning "tsoo-ee." Repeated frequently through June, the song makes the species easy to locate even though the bird itself often stays hidden in foliage. In Sweden it occurs in Götaland, Svealand and large parts of Norrland up to Lappland, having expanded strongly westward during the 1970s to 1990s before declining somewhat in the 2000s. It is a pronounced long-distance migrant, arriving late — from the second week of May to early June — and leaving again already in August to winter in India and Southeast Asia. It nests low in scrub, usually one to three metres up, laying a clutch of 4–5 eggs in May–June; because the late arrival and early departure leave only a short breeding season, pairs normally raise just one brood, with the female incubating while both parents feed the chicks on seeds, buds, berries and insects.
Read about this species in Swedish →