People

Hi John

I don't mind at all you posting on my page - you bashful person you!  You do deserve it tho, you contribute so much to this site, I'm amazed you didn't receive it ages ago!

Kerry

Afternoon John,

Just a note to say how much I have enjoyed looking through your photo's.

I have never thought about the photography side of birding, (possibly the thought of the cost for a decent peice of kit). What kit are you using for your photo's!

Regards Paul 

Morning Highland McHale

Glad you found the list of some interest.

The other thing I failed to mention is, some the the recordings have only been made by fishermen several miles from our shores!

If you have the time select some the rarer birds from the list and do a google search in the UK.

My search normally consists of the following eg: Sightings of Bufflehead in the British Ilses

The search results could be numerous!  again sifting through them makes very interesting reading. I normally find details of when and where the recordings were made!

Another resource site I use daily is the BirdGuides website, this includes the BOURC British List of species.

It gives any level of birder a wealth of knowledge.

Here's the link, http://www.birdguides.com/species/default.asp?menu=menu_species 

I hope you will find this site as useful as I do.

Buzzard

Hi, Buzzard has covered the subject well. Redpolls as a group are currently giving taxonomists a headache and there is talk of them being lumped back as one species.

Mealy (Common ) Redpolls are midway in appearance and size between Lesser and Arctic.

The situation is made more complex by Greenland and Icelandic redpolls :)

Most  Mealies look paler than Lessers - often with paler rumps in winter. Arctics vary   in colour from from greyish to 'snowball' in winter.

There are good treatments in any advanced fieldguide and lots of discussions on birding websites.

Hope that gives you something to research further :))

S

Hi John, no problem at all coming direct to me.

Having looked at the photo's and read your description, I determined it was a Lesser Redpoll based on that and aslo on my experience of handling them! 

I could be wrong without having seen or heard the bird also preferring to have it in the hand, would be of great advantage in determining the species.

With some comparable species such as Marsh Tit / Willow Tit, Chiff Chaff & Willow Warbler etc & sub species it is difficult to tell them apart unless you have the bird in your hand or heard it's call / song!

The Common or (Mealy) Redpoll is larger than the Lesser Redpoll and also has a ‘frosty’ appearance and clean whitish flanks, so with you saying it was smaller than the Bullfinch I would be relatively confident in identifing it as a Lesser Redpoll!

The Lesser Redpoll is a small streaky brown finch usually located by its loud rattling call.

Redpolls can usually be identified by the little red spot on the forehead which gives them their name.

In females, however, this red colour can be indistinct and in juveniles it can be lacking altogether.

Such birds would have to be identified by their small size, chunky shape and streaky dark brown plumage, lacking the greens and yellows of Serins or Siskins or the white in the wing and tail of a Linnet or Twite.

The following link http://www.worcesterbirding.co.uk/redpolls_58.html  is to a detailed article a fellow ringer wrote a few years ago.

It will give you a clear picture of the difficulties, even when you have the bird in your hand.

Hope this helps and thanks for the contact.

Regards Buzzard ( Paul )