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Thursday, March 3, 2011

More Hoary and an Odd One

There were no less than four Hoary Redpolls under my feeder today.  If anyone is comfortable placing a subspecies identification on any of these photos I would appreciate it.

Hoary Redpoll amongst Commons


Hoary Redpoll

 Hoary Redpoll

Terrible pic of two Hoaries together

I was so intent on watching for and photographing Hoary Redpolls that I missed this apparently aberrant Common Redpoll.  The portions of the bird that should be a pinkish-red appear to be a yellowish orange.  I have seen this "variation" in House Finches, but had not heard of it in Redpolls.  I am hoping this bird is around tomorrow so I can get definitive shots of it.  Given that this bird is out of focus (oof) and in a posture that is not duplicated by another Redpoll in this frame; I cannot exclude the possibility that this is a photographic artifact.  However, I have reviewed hundreds of photos of out of focus Redpolls taken from this location without finding this coloration / artifact.  A quick online search did not return any results for yellow / orange Redpoll variants.  Let me know what you think.

Click on the photo for a larger version.

1 comment:

  1. Well it was quickly brought to my attention that BNA cites - "Male. Forehead and lores blackish; crown shiny, bright poppy red, sometimes more orange or even gold..."

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