Re: [Maine-birds] Fryeburg Birds today, 12/5

Thank you Louis. We looked for the white on back of the 70+ birds in
the flock but could not find one with it. They moved around a lot,
except for the two in the photos, so it was to get a good look.

Bill

On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 4:35 PM, Louis Bevier <lrbevier@colby.edu> wrote:
> Bill - this photo essay on redpoll identification published in North
> American Birds may be of help:
> http://aba.org/nab/v65n2redpolls.pdf
>
> 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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