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Another Redpoll.... (1 Viewer)

Ruby

Well-known member
Hi Guys,

Would welcome any views on this Redpoll - seen today in Surrey.


Thanks.... Ruby
 

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no rump, no mantle, no undertail coverts, no comparison and people are declaring it a mealy! On what basis? lesser redpolls can have white flanks especially males
 
Steven Astley said:
no rump, no mantle, no undertail coverts, no comparison and people are declaring it a mealy! On what basis? lesser redpolls can have white flanks especially males

I only said it looks good, which I still think it does.

Not only does it look quite white, but also quite bull-necked and flat faced, another feature I would look for in a Mealie.

However I am no expert and it is just a photo.
 
sorry jules i was a bit abrupt but subtleties of structure can be accounted for by the posture of the bird. Also it does appear to have a buff wingbar if you look closely
 
Fair play, but its underparts are fairly uniform whitish: there is no hint of any buffiness. Plus you can see the undertail covs, which appear to show only very faint streaking.
 
Thats a Lesser Redpoll - nice male. Brown-washed, buff wingbar, small (how is it bull-necked and flat-faced?!) etc. Not much here that could suggest Mealy. As for the lack of a buff wash on the underparts, this is not a big feature when it comes to seperating the two - I have seen numerous Lessers like this.

However, for complete certainty, it would be nice to see the back/rump etc.
 
If anyone is interested - I have enclosed a photograph of a Mealy Redpoll for comparison.

Note how bull-necked and flat-faced this bird is in comparison, as well as the grey tones and white wingbar and how bulky it looks generally.
 

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Hi Guys,

Sorry, only just got logged back on....

There were a flock of 15-18 birds, 2 of which were markedly larger than the rest when the flock was in flight.

However, couldn't swear that this was one of the larger ones....but it was a good deal paler.

I've got plenty of pics, but they're all much the same! Don't know whether this one might be of any additional help....


Ruby
 

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That birds head looks quite a lot browner than the good 2 or 3 Mealies I saw today. having said that, you could make a case that it is simply at the brown end of Mealy, although the head shape suggests Lesser as well.
 
wrexile1 said:
........ small (how is it bull-necked and flat-faced?!) etc.
However, for complete certainty, it would be nice to see the back/rump etc.

How is it small? Admittedly it's still a common beginners mistake to believe that the size of an individual bird, with no other birds or anything of known size alongside for comparison, can be accurately judged. It can't.

martin
 
martin kitching said:
How is it small? Admittedly it's still a common beginners mistake to believe that the size of an individual bird, with no other birds or anything of known size alongside for comparison, can be accurately judged. It can't.

martin


Well it hardly gives you a sense of a big, bulky snowball of a bird does it? Plus its a redpoll, and they are small :)
 
Ruby said:
Hi Guys,

Would welcome any views on this Redpoll - seen today in Surrey.


Thanks.... Ruby

Another fascinating bird. It is clearly a male and that makes a big difference as the faint flank streaking might suggest Mealy. What I can see of the head, back and, importantly, the bill all suggest Lesser.

The flanks and undertail coverts are unstreaked and so might suggest Mealy, but some males may be very sparsely streaked. I am surprised to see the almost unstreaked undertail coverts, but note that there is a faint buffy wash - a feature I have been told isn't shown by all Lessers, but has been shown by all the ones I've seen recently (whcih isn't many as I live in Shetland).
 
Thanks Guys,

This is obviously pretty tricky - particularly out in the field, where all the flocks of Redpoll that I've seen this year have been very flighty.... You just get to find an interesting individual and they all get up and fly off!

Quite pleased to get a semi-decent pic of a Redpoll at all (leastways this is about the best I've managed to date) and really wanted to try to confirm a definite id before sticking it in my files..... Lesser it is, I reckon....


Thanks again.... Ruby
 
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