This year is unusual for the number of redpolls showing up in November and early December. The birds we are seeing now look different in some respects from those we are used to seeing in late January and February (see photo essay) because they are still in fresh plumage with extensive whitish tips to most of their body feathers. These fresh fall and early winter redpolls have an overall frostier and whiter aspect, hence potentially confusing with Hoary, especially because most comparative photos you will find were taken in late winter when the birds hit the populated areas of the northern U.S. and southern Canada. There are a few Hoary Redpolls showing up, for sure, but I think your male is a Common. The strongest reason is that it shows a deeper and more extensive red area on the breast than a male Hoary would, especially a fresh fall bird. As the pale tips wear, this bird will darken, and by late January and February look quite different, being darker and redder on the breast. The flank streaks look sparse in your image because the feathers are fluffed out and still have broad pale tips. The bill looks a bit long for Hoary, but that is difficult to judge at times. The key would be to see the rump and longest under tail coverts, both not shown in your photos. As a general guide, males have less streaking than females, and immatures of each sex are more heavily marked than adults. So, an adult male Common Redpoll can look quite pale by comparison to immature and female flock mates.
Louis Bevier
Fairfield
On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 2:06 PM, Bill Blauvelt <bil.blauvelt@gmail.com> wrote:
Sally took 4 picture yesterday that I poster to my Flicker account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13686093@N06/
If you can not get to them, I will happy to e-mail them to anyone that
is interested. We have never seen any Redpoles before, so we would
appreciate help in identifying them. We think the male is a Roary
because it much less streaking than most of the other ones and it
looked more portly. We could not get a good look off his backside.
Thank you,
Bill Blauvelt
Portland, ME
On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 5:51 PM, Bob Crowley <crbob@fairpoint.net> wrote:
> The were 16 Common Redpolls on Old River Road today. Has any one been able
> to get a picture of a Hoary Redpoll at that location? Also today there were
> 54 Canada Geese and 4 Common Goldeneyes on Lower Kimball Pond which is
> starting to ice over.
>
> Bob Crowley
> Chatham, NH
>
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