Early morning at Burrafirth I came across large, tame Redpoll. It appears to be a 1cy Hornemanns Arctic Redpoll on account of its overall (BIG) size, deep bill base, bull necked appearance. The white base colour, warm buff tones about the head and face. Its definitely at the streakier end of the spectrum and this would i think usually warn people off as it did me somewhat initially. thanks to Dave Cooper and Brydon Thomason for their input, coming to see it and agreeing on the ID and also to Geoff Wyatt who saw the bird respectively and has come to the same conclusion of its identity.
The undertail coverts show ‘pencil line ‘central shaft streaks, which is in keeping with the whole birds vibe really: streaky. In fact this could be a downfall of the bird generally infront of a commitee but i’ll do my best to convey the birds presence in the description. Being used to looking at a very variable group of birds (Gulls) , Im enjoying my baptism into these , evaluating things like; overall structure, stance , bill shape and expression in a passerine that stays mostly still (whilst feeding) as you watch has been great.
Since the last post the highlights have been Dave Cooper’s Buff breast, which was joined by another the following day. I didn’t get to see Brydon’s OBP or Blythes Reed despite looking but i did see Geoff Wyatt’s lovely Red flanked Blue tail at vaylie, nice one Geoff!
Last couple of days now before i make the long journey to scilly…
PERDIX BIRDER 