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Post by Chris on Feb 28, 2012 16:28:03 GMT -8
I was at Hope Airport this afternoon. At the south west corner of the airport there were tons of Redpolls. This one caught my eye. I am fairly confident it is a Hoary Redpoll. It has that frosty look to it and the streaks seem to match. Granted, my Redpoll experience is not great. I tried to count the flock but didn't have much success as they were moving quite often. I would estimate that the flock was about 130-150 birds.  |
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Post by Chris on Feb 28, 2012 17:27:43 GMT -8
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Post by Chris on Feb 28, 2012 19:47:31 GMT -8
I have been looking at my pictures of this bird and I am going with Hoary Redpoll. This bird is a lot paler than any redpoll I have seen. The streaks strongly suggest Hoary over Common as well. There is some light rose colouration which also strongly points to Hoary. My knowledge on Redpolls isn't great so if anyone disagrees with my ID please let me know. If anyone is interested the flock of redpolls were seen here. maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=49.367787,-121.504862&hl=en&ll=49.368052,-121.504712&spn=0.007294,0.02105&sll=49.366921,-121.499777&sspn=0.007294,0.02105&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=16&t=m&z=16 They were on the south side of Old Yale road. |
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Post by Gord on Feb 28, 2012 20:08:05 GMT -8
Chris, right on and well done. Looks like a male to me which I believe makes it a bit easier. The photos and just as importantly your observations in the field leaves little to doubt. Beauty!
Amazing sight of so many redpolls! Really isnt a stretch if a Hoary gets mixed in with them. I think this is the second record for the species in the checklist area. The first was more than a few years ago in the Skagit Valley by Jason and Todd.
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Post by Randy on Feb 28, 2012 21:14:29 GMT -8
Nice work Chris! Certainly an exercise in patience and dedication finding this one amongst the others!
Randy
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Post by murraybrown on Feb 28, 2012 21:15:03 GMT -8
Intriguing find fellows. Did either of you get a shot of the rump area? It seems that colouration overlap between the two species is quite frequent and that only the Hoary has a completely white rump. Although the jury is still out as to whether or not they are even different species at all.
Still, until the scientists decide that question, my guess is that this bird would qualify as a Hoary based on what I can see.
Excellent find!
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Post by Chris on Feb 28, 2012 22:18:11 GMT -8
Thanks for the responses.
Murray, I was the only one that observed the bird. Gord was not with me. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the rump.
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Post by murraybrown on Feb 28, 2012 22:36:36 GMT -8
Chris, as I re-read the report I see that it was you alone that found them. Nice work, and I'll see if I can relocate them tomorrow.
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Post by bonjuan3 on Feb 29, 2012 7:53:13 GMT -8
How exciting to find this rarity! I first found the link through ebird rarity alerts, but somehow it didn't work. So I'm glad I found this posting the usual way.
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Post by bonjuan3 on Feb 29, 2012 8:08:59 GMT -8
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Post by Wetlander on Feb 29, 2012 9:00:26 GMT -8
Good eyes, Chris!
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Post by Chris on Mar 1, 2012 23:32:42 GMT -8
Thanks for the responses.
One thing that has been bugging me is the first picture. It looks more like a Common Redpoll and in fact it is. Dumb move on my part, I actually posted a picture of another bird. I observed the Hoary for about one minute. The first picture(Comon Redpoll) was taken ten minutes after the last Hoary picture. The face is darker than the Hoary ones.
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Post by Gord on Mar 1, 2012 23:40:26 GMT -8
Chris, that sure makes a significant change in considering the photos you got of the bird. Looking at the photo file names, the first bird in your posts is about 20 pictures 'older' than the last one of the really pale bird. No question a different bird!
As for the bird in question, I would say it would be a Hoary. You're pretty careful out there and not quick or prone to making something maybe a bit different into something else that it is not. That big flock of birds contained more than a few paler Common Redpolls. If you pulled out this bird from those, that means something too.
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Post by Gord on Mar 4, 2012 21:39:33 GMT -8
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