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Mealy Redpoll West Mids (1 Viewer)

That last bird has to be a Mealy surely - look at the bill on it! Some seriously interesting stuff in this thread, some of it way over my head, but perhaps the conclusion we can draw is that at the moment, not all Redpolls are definitely ID'able, would trapping and ringing this bird and taking appropriate measurements even clinch the ID?

D
 
chowat said:
Hi Max,

Lets not confuse things. There were 3 redpolls and the images you have are not the bird in question. The bird you show would be hopeless ID. Steven Seal has pictures of the pale bird with the white rump. http://steveseal.fotopic.net/p47508186.html

best wishes
Craig
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Are you absolutely sure these are not the same bird, just taken at different exposures? Reason i say that is the facial pattern - especially markings either side of the eye. Demonstrating the difficulties and misrepresentations of photgraphs at times (the paler image is just about the true likeness IMO).

I too feel there is definately a pale bird and then a 2nd bird with a pale rump, altho both are probably mealy (altho I would love to see other photosof 1stW mealies with white rumps to put my mind at rest).
 
I agree with Wolfbirder that these two photos could be the same bird - the facial markings are remarkably similar and, if you look at the seeds on which the bird is feeding, the contrast in the colour between the two photos is similar to that of the bird. I have not seen the bird in question but it does illustrate that colouration, particularly in photographs, can vary considerably according to the light.

Based on the photos and analysis so far I agree that this bird is very tricky. It is clearly not an "obvious Arctic" but I also agree that it *could* be an Arctic at the well-marked end. I agree with Sibley that we should refer to birds that cannot be safely assigned to either "Mealy" or "Arctic" as "intermediate". Calling such birds Mealy just because they are not obvious Arctics is just as dubious as identifying them as Arctic. I was in the Mealy camp originally but, having studied Sibley's blog (which is excellent) I am not so sure..!
 
Hi Guys I didn't mean to confuse matters with my pics.

The first shot was taken when I was with a small group of birders who were discussing at length whether it was a Mealy or an Arctic.A dog walker appeared and scared it off.I was on my own when I took the other two shots which I thought was the bird in question again but my ID skills are pretty poor.

Max
 
senatore said:
Hi Guys I didn't mean to confuse matters with my pics.

The first shot was taken when I was with a small group of birders who were discussing at length whether it was a Mealy or an Arctic.A dog walker appeared and scared it off.I was on my own when I took the other two shots which I thought was the bird in question again but my ID skills are pretty poor.

Max
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Youv'e nothing to apologise for Senatore. Nothing at all. Photographic effect is a key topic regards identifation of this bird and your excellent photos in fact prove how different the same bird can look. I believe some people who have not seen this bird are judging it as 'clearly' a Mealy because of some of the photos, when you can only judge it from how it appears in reality - of course this is a little subjective but all those who have seen it will state that colour wise it is similar to the pale photo version.

Of course there are other big issues regards this birds i/d. Bill etc.

On a seperate note, I know Lee Evans mentions two similar birds on a patch near him, has anybody taken photos of these for us to compare with this bird? Would just be interesting to see how similar they really are.
 
Hi All
Went to Marsh Lane this afternoon to see if i could get some more shots of this Redpoll, arrived at 2-00 to find P Johnson one of the finders of this bird already watching it at close quaters feeding with four Lessers. You could pick it out 50yds away (White Snowball). It was to dark for any shots so i took some video footage instead and watched for half hour while it feed just a few yds in front of us. Its an amazing bird and if you have not yet visited , its well worth a look. Three more unpublished images below. There are no colour allterations in any of my photos , they are as the bird appears in the field.(Come and see for yourself).
Regards Steve Seal.
 

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marklhawkes said:
http://bedsbirds.blogspot.com/

Try here. These may be the birds he is on about. You need to pan down quite abit to find them, but there are a few on there
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Thanks Mark,

Hmmm interesting video of them too , fairly similar but the rump on the video of the paler bird looks nothing like the white rump on the marsh lane bird. Still would like to see Mealies with such a white rump - to date i havent seen any photos depicting this degree of paleness.
 
Now that this record/sighting is two years old, I'm wondering if this bird was ever submitted to the West Midlands Bird Club (as what species/form)? Was it accepted? (as what species/form)? Were the BBRC ever asked to look at this bird?

Thanks in advance
 
From the recently published WMBC 2007 Report.

Redpoll Sp.
A redpoll at Marsh Lane from December 22nd into 2008 showed conflicting characters between Arctic Redpoll C.hornemanii and Common Redpoll C.flammea. The bird's paleness, lack of brown tones in the scapulars, extensive white rump (lightly peppered with grey), apparently bland face and large size compared to accompanying Lesser Redpolls suggest Arctic Redpoll. However, its large bill, some undertail covert streaking and well-streaked flanks suggest Common Redpoll. Although excellently photographed, attempts to catch the bird were unsuccessful, and its specific identification currently remains unconfirmed.
 
I thought I would add my very little bird experience to this intirguing thread. The first bird is apparently a Common/Mealy Redpoll. I had this varified by somebody from the Worcester birding thing. The second is/maybe the same but the third is definitely a Lesser Redpoll.
The pics were all taken in my back garden.
 

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