COBirders, Yesterday I camped out at the Ft. Collins Museum of Discovery feeders, hoping to spot a Hoary Redpoll. Despite the frequent attention from raptors: Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Merlin (2) and Kestrel; the Redpoll flock of ~75 birds was actively feeding most of the morning.
I focused on the palest birds and by midday felt I had several candidates for Hoary, however, after studying the photos & seeking some outside (objective) opinions, I believe all three are Common Redpoll. For anyone else on the Hoary mission, a collection of "light Commons" can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pgburke/ Arguments against Hoary: - streaking on undertail coverts -- while faint, should be pure white - size of red poll -- should be smaller & positioned more toward the "forehead" - bill size -- very subjective, but on the birds I photographed, bill size more consistent with Common Happy hunting! Peter Burke Boulder, CO -- http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-burke/5/788/a62 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
