[john gardiner]

Visited my parents this afternoon in Chester le Street Co Durham. I looked out the kitchen window to see half a dozen Chaffinch's fly up into the tree at the bottom of the garden.One bird looked very pale ( thought it was just the light off the strong sun ) when I got the binocular's out and got a good look the bird was pure white with a few blackstreaks on the wing and tail my first thought was Snow Bunting. But as I never seen one before I 'm not so sure it looked far too light compared to the pictures in various bird books the head being pure white and I thought it was too far from the coast ( about 12 miles ) and I Believe they feed on the ground but what else could it be?

[Jane Turner]

The behaviour doesn't sound too Snow Bunting-like. Albino Chaffinch is a possibility, probably about as likely as a Snow Bunting in an inland garden...

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Coincidence:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=12287

Or is it?

[john gardiner]

Yep Fifebirder it looks just like the picture MaryMary posted of a male Snow Bunting with a white head.Bit of a coincidence though.

[Stephen Dunstan]

John,

A bird near here in a similar situation before Xmas (at a feeding station) and reported initially as a Snow Bunting turned out to be a Chaffinch with aberrant white head and neck. I would think that a bird that flew into the tree with the Chaffinches is more likely to be an odd Chaffinch (or perhaps even an escape of some kind) than a Snow Bunting.

Regards,

Stephen.

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Originally Posted by john gardiner

Yep Fifebirder it looks just like the picture MaryMary posted of a male Snow Bunting with a white head.Bit of a coincidence though.

I did vaguely wonder if it was actually the same bird you saw, as MaryMary's bird was also in Durham (OK I know it's a big place). You never know though.

[Andrew]

I once followed a whitish "Snow Bunting" for a while on the Scillies until it turned out to be a Chaffinch. Got me going though!

[Edward]

Not sure about Snow Buntings in the UK in inland gardens so I defer to the UK members' knowledge in that area. However, I saw many hundreds of Snow Buntings in urban gardens in the town of Thorlákshöfn on the south coast of Iceland today. I counted a dozen houses in the street each with about 50 Snow Buntings on the roof and many many more in the gardens. However, they don't think much of trees and usually go straight from the ground to open areas like roofs. It was cold today -10°C, plenty of snow on the ground and they were being fed hence the large numbers. A great sight and sound (and I didn't see nay albion Chaffinches amongst them).

E

[john gardiner]

I saw my first Snow Bunting this afternoon at Frenchman's Bay South Shields.I was amazed at how tame the bird was allowing me to get within a few feet of it, giving me a great view of this beautiful little bird.This was definately not the bird I saw last weekend in the garden. I think a albino Chaffinch was the most likely answer to that puzzle. Also managed to see the Black Redstart at Marsden Bay so quite a satisfying day , Two nice birds seen and hopefully a mystery solved.

[Dave B Smith]

John,
I saw my first (and only) Snow Bunting in Alaska. I was also surprised how tame it was. It came to within 6 feet of me.

[StevieEvans]

Hello Johngardiner

Looks like you saw a couple of nice species yesterday (sat).

I was talking to a couple of birders last week who had seen a Red Kite at Chester Moor close to the RSPCA place.
We went for a look yesterday with no success, but did find an active Barn Owl roost closer to Sacriston.

Regards StevieEvans. Durham.

[john gardiner]

Stevie Evans
Saw a pair of Red Legged Partridge in a field just off the crossroads at Edmondsley this morning this is the first time I've ever seen them in this area before only ever seen them in North Northumberland .Do you know if they are common in the Durham area?

[StevieEvans]

John
Its status is classed by the Durham Bird Club as being :-
"An uncommon localised resident dependant on release programmes"

In 20 years birding (most of it local) ive seen RLP less than annualy & only ever in singles or pairs.
Cant recall seeing any in your area, but have seen them in the Burnhope/Lanchester/Malton areas, not that far away i suppose.

Your local bird records would be greatly recieved by the D.B.Club.

Let me know what you get locally, as i still get "across" every now & then, i lived at Sacriston for 6year & have breeding sites in the area for 4 owl species.

PS. (PM me WHEN you see that KiTE...!! )

StevieE.