Barrow, Alaska, Ross Gull migration (Oct 2018) (1 Viewer)

See my photo report on my website:

http://www.birdshooting.nl/index.php/en/blog-en/459-ross-gulls-barrow

Thanks for any feedback!

With kind regards,

Chris van Rijswijk

Wonderful pictures!
Glad that you got the bird. Must have been nerve racking to have gone all that way and have the Ross stay away for days.

Wonderful shots indeed. Thanks for posting.

Amazed to hear about Short-tailed Shearwaters that far north.

Cheers
Mike

Wow those pink Ross's Gulls are something else, never realised they turned that obvious pink colour.

Loved your Redpoll blog as usual. Wonder what you make of this Redpoll from England in 2008 I think. It split opinion between Mealy and Arctic at the time, now I think it could be an Icelandic type Common Redpoll. See below. Would love to hear what you think of it?

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OIP.dtRKUIUClXwYz95Ekin9bAHaFC&w=286&h=188&c=7&o=5&pid=1.7
https://www.bing.com/th?id=OIP.annTVHSVSvz8EiH5KrtKUwHaE9&w=292&h=188&c=7&o=5&pid=1.7

Thanks for all responses!

@Nick, thanks for your interesting redpoll-pictures. A few questions:

• In which month did you take the pictures?
• And are the pictures available in a larger size?
• And is this (https://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=576297&d=1457423494) the same bird?

Thanks for your response again…

Hi Chris

Yes it was Dec 2007 / January 2008 it was seen, and discussed at great length on the thread below, though some of the attached photos in the thread are no longer available. It split opinion between Common / Arctic at the time, but our understanding of Redpolls has come on a lot since. It certainly showed characteristics of both.
Your attached photo is the bird in question. Would still love to hear your thoughts. On that thread see photos on post 11 and 14, which may help.

At minimum, a very educational bird.

https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=103710&highlight=Redpoll+Marsh+Lane

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your additional information and link to the interesting topic about this redpoll.

I think this redpoll is really difficult to be identified. For sure it’s not a ‘classic’ exilipes or a classic ‘flammea’. Sadly enough most pictures from the topic aren’t available anymore.

I think this bird is a first winter, but I see a pink (or red) glue on it’s cheeks (see https://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=119369&d=1199041591 and https://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=119405&d=1199052135). Do you see what I mean? If correct, a pink/red glue is rare for a first winter redpoll. I even was thinking for a moment: is this bird an adult with a delayed or incomplete moult, like this (https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=345573.0;attach=738208;image) bird? I’m definitely not sure about it.

The bill is not a regular bill for an exilipes, but not unusual. Some exilipes have a comparable large bill. This redpoll looks quite pale, that’s a good feature for exilipes, but some flammea’s are also really pale. The flank streaking of this redpoll is not unusual for a first winter exilipes.

On the topic I saw there was some discussion about the undertail. I found this picture (https://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=118977&d=1198769144). If correct, I can’t believe this bird is an exilipes, but I’m not sure if this undertail is from the same bird.

Exilipes and flammea are close related to each other. Some individuals are too difficult to be identified. I prefer to keep this bird unidentified. To be honest, I do not see points of reference to think about an Icelandic redpoll. Sorry for that… ;-)

Really interesting to read your thoughts Chris. Thank you for taking the time to scrutinise it and offer your thoughts.

Much appreciated.

I think there was some issue about two different pale birds being photographed, one which was certainly a Mealy. The attached 3 images are helpful -2 show the UTCs of the actual bird - still quite a thick single streak, and the 3rd image shows just how frosty white it was side on.

https://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=119909&d=1199387859

https://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=119372&d=1199041647

https://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=119910&d=1199388372