ML292101401

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

The paler female

Observation details

In a flock of 15-20 redpolls at the feeders, three birds immediately stood out as being very pale. I saw all three next to each other but was only able to capture two in a frame at the same time. As far as I can tell, two were probably females and one was an interesting looking male. One female was very frosty and fluffy looking with a tiny bill feathered heavily at the base, few brown tones, no streaking on rump and very clean undertail coverts. The second female was perhaps a bit more strongly marked and maybe had a slightly longer bill? The male (which I'm calling now a Common/Hoary) was more puzzling. He had a tiny bill with feathering over the nares and a very fluffy appearance. His face, mantle and upper breast were a tawny color, changing to a light pink wash across the breast. The breast was unstreaked. His flanks had streaking, but the rump appeared white and the undertail coverts had at most 1 or 2 thin streaks. Searching online I could find a few photos of supposed Hoary Redpolls with similar tawny coloration on the sides of the face and throat, but none of Common Redpoll with this same pattern and no streaking or red on the sides of the throat.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF300mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III

ISO

250

Focal length

420 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

3826 pixels x 2551 pixels

Original file size

368.5 KB