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& My observations have been the same - very few of the redpoles have pink breasts - in a flock of a hundred you may find three or four with pink on their breast, and perhaps one that is a lighter colour. Roland. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lois Codling" <loiscodling@hfx.eastlink.ca> To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 8:13 PM Subject: [NatureNS] Re: redpoll question > Thank you, Blake, for such terrific information re Redpolls. Very helpful > in trying to sort them out. > > We have a question. Why are there so few adult males, at least in the > flocks we are observing around our house? I would guess there are about > one in twenty-five that are at all pink-breasted. Are other people > finding the same proportion? The Sibley site you gave, Blake, mentioned > that the white feather edges wear away from the fresh fall plumage to > reveal more pink as the winter progresses, so I guess that is a possible > answer. Any other suggestions? > > We may have had 3 of the 4 subspecies today in our flock of about 100. I > saw a pale bird high up in the trees, near two other darker ones, but > never got a closer look. Don saw a large dark one, which may have been a > Greater Common Redpoll. From now on we'll be watching closely, with > better information to judge by! > > Lois Codling > L. Sackville > > Blake Maybank wrote: >> At 02:58 PM 01/01/2008, Jane wrote: >>> I've been trying to see if I could find a hoary among "our" big flock of >>> common redpolls. I noticed that someone on this list said he looked for >>> a BIGGER bird. Well, our (old edition) Peterson says the hoary is >>> SMALLER than the common (4 1/2 -5 1/2 for the hornemanni and 5-5 1/2 for >>> the flammea)! Pat Mackay looked in her Sibley, and it also said the >>> hoary was a bit bigger than the common. Our Burrows book also says the >>> hoary is bigger. Wow. Did Roger Tory Peterson actually make a >>> mistake?? The illustration in our Burrows shows the side of the hoary's >>> head (lores and auricular) to be very light. What have you experts >>> found? >> >> This seems an opportune time to forward the following superb redpoll >> analysis, that first appeared on the Birding ID Frontiers discussion >> group. It may not make separating the different redpolls any easier, >> but at least you will now have information to hand. The author is Ron >> Pittaway. >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> The Redpoll Challenge: This is a major redpoll winter in southern Canada >> and the United States. The legendary George North of Hamilton, Ontario, >> once saw all four North American redpoll subspecies in the same flock on >> 23 March 1958 near Hamilton (North 1983, Curry 2006). Fifty years later >> this could be the winter to do it again. On 15 December 2007, Ron and >> Doug Tozer found a big "snowball" Hornemann's" Hoary Redpoll (nominate >> hornemanni) on the Minden Christmas Bird Count. This is the rarest >> redpoll in southern Canada. On 14 December 2007, I saw two "Greater" >> Common Redpolls (rostrata) at our feeders in Toronto and there have been >> several other recent reports. With these two High Arctic subspecies and >> probably record numbers of "Southern" Hoary Redpolls (exilipes) in flocks >> of "Southern" Common Redpoll (nominate flammea), we have all four North >> American subspecies in southern Ontario this winter. Below I summarize >> the basic information needed to understand and identify redpolls with >> links to photos. >> >> Taxonomy: The American Ornithologists' Union (1998) recognizes two >> species: Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) and Hoary Redpoll (C. >> hornemanni). Each has two subspecies (races) breeding in North America. >> Discussion about lumping or splitting redpolls has been off the "radar >> screen" in recent years. The four subspecies are described below. >> >> 1. "Southern" Common Redpoll (nominate flammea): This is the commonest of >> the four subspecies in southern Ontario. It is the standard to which the >> other three are compared. In most plumages, it is noticeably streaked on >> the sides, undertail coverts and rump. However, adult males in winter >> have more contrasting whiter rumps (fewer streaks and often pinkish) than >> on worn breeding birds. Adult males are pink-breasted. First year males >> are somewhat darker and often washed with light pink. Adult females >> usually lack pink (sometimes tinged) and first year females are the >> darkest and most heavily streaked of the four age/sex classes. >> >> 2. "Greater" Common Redpoll (rostrata): This large and dark subspecies >> breeds on Baffin Island and Greenland. Greater Redpolls are a winter >> visitor in small numbers to the southern parts of eastern Canada from >> Ontario to Newfoundland (Godfrey 1986) and to the northeastern United >> States. Greaters are more frequent than Hoarys in some winters (Pittaway >> 1992). The Greater is larger (averages 14.0 cm compared to 12.5 cm for >> flammea) and heavier. Other field marks are the Greater's thicker bill >> and somewhat darker and browner coloration with conspicuous heavy >> streaking on the underparts usually extending to the undertail coverts. >> Adult male Greaters have "red of underparts less extensive and less >> intense" than flammea (Godfrey 1986). Males lack red on the malar area, >> which flammea males usually have (Beadle and Rising 2006). Some observers >> describe Greaters as House Finch-like. See the excellent identification >> article on Greater Redpoll by Beadle and Henshaw (1996) in Birders >> Journal 5(1):44-47, illustrated by Beadle. The differences between the >> two Common Redpoll subspecies are usually obvious when the two are >> together for comparison (Peterson 1947). >> >> 3. "Southern" Hoary Redpoll (exilipes): This subspecies breeds in the Low >> Arctic and much of its range overlaps that of the "Southern" Common >> Redpoll (flammea). It is the much commoner Hoary subspecies, and is >> similar in size to the flammea Common Redpoll. During redpoll flight >> years, it is usually possible to find a few classic adult male exilipes >> Hoarys. Compared to the "Southern" Common Redpoll, they are more frosted >> with white rumps, have li