Common Rosefinch

Common Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus) is a medium finch whose mature male has a crimson head, breast and rump, while females and young are olive-brown and streaked. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds widely across Europe and Asia in scrub and open woodland, feeds on seeds, buds and fruit and migrates to South Asia, often giving a simple whistled song from an exposed perch. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).