If replying to this email, please send to [email protected] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Birders, Today while birding in the far north, I encountered an incredible flock of Redpolls pulling seeds from a roadside snowbank. I spent several hours studying and photographing the birds at close range, and found at least 2 birds that had many of the suitable characteristics for the "Hornemann's" subspecies of Hoary Redpoll (the largest and palest of the Redpolls). They were visibly larger than their counterparts, very pale, and very lightly streaked for female-type birds. Photos of these two candidates (and others from today) can be seen here: http://www.blog.peregrineprints.com/2011/02/hornemanns-photos.html The location was East of the town of Matheson. Travel east about 50km to Hwy 672. Turn right (south) and travel maybe 1-3km (sorry I forgot to measure) until you reach a snow-plowed clearing on the right side of the road (west). I don't know the circumstances, but there was a considerable amount of seeds stuck in these plowed snowbanks, and I parked my car close and waited for the birds to return. They were rarely gone for more than 10 minutes, but never came all at once. (flocks of 10-75 at a time). Both subspecies of Common Redpoll were numerous, (maybe 100 total) and there was roughly 20-25 Hoary Redpolls (most of the "southern" subspecies) present throughout the day. It is a lot more fun to study the confusing intermediate birds when some painfully obvious Hoaries were present! A Lynx was also seen, maybe 15km south of here. Good Birding! Brandon www.PeregrinePrints.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
