ML87898761

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Heard "che-che" calls in flight a few times. Heard and then saw 1 individual at the photo point at roughly 0920 or 0925, when it flew in from upstream and perched on a Chokecherry N of the stream near bare ground of a steep rocky south-aspect and made upslurred "weet?" calls for a minute or two. Then lost sight of it and a few minutes later saw at least 3 redpolls (including 1 with a very rosy breast - ad male?) ca 30 m upstream, on the ground N of the shrub zone. They seemed to be moving around on the snow (where it was a bit patchy), concentrated around a clump of protruding grasses. When I checked the area on near the grass clump again at 0944, I no longer saw any redpolls. I initially identified these birds as Common Redpolls, but in fall 2020 Coburn Currier and an eBird photo reviewer suggested that at least the best-seen individual was a Hoary. I agreed after careful study: small bill, minimal streaking, whitish overall, and apparently unstreaked undertail coverts. I found that I also had taken a short video of this bird flicking its wings, and the video documents an unstreaked rump as well. The two other redpolls look similarly whitish and small-billed and may also be Hoaries, but given the single blurry photo I am leaving them unidentified to species.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P900

ISO

160

Focal length

268 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

2782 pixels x 2135 pixels

Original file size

1.05 MB