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| Common Redpoll Acanthis flammea |
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| Common Redpoll Acanthis flammea |
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| Apparently not a Hoary Redpoll |
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| Sibley's Hoary showing much potential for streaking |
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| Me after 10 minutes of Redpolling |
AKA "The Redpoll Venn diagram from Hell," Mount Royal Cemetery, January 24, 2021
That’s COmmon REdpolls vs HOary REdpolls, one of the oldest and most dastardly of birding brain-busters. With an irruption year of northern species, and several recent sightings of Hoarys mixed in with a batch of Common Redpolls at the Mount Royal Cemetery feeders (maintained tirelessly by George Levtchouk), it seemed like a golden opportunity to gain some experience with the relatively scarce, and thoroughly frustrating species.
There is a range of mythical features one must look for to pick out the odd HORE from a pack of ho-hum COREs: smaller bill, white rump and undertail, relatively reduced streaking, more white in the wing coverts, bull-necked appearance, silvery and fluffy overall. Of course, there is much overlap within any one of these features between the two northern chonkballs…much like an Orange-crowned Warblers (or every gull ever), birds showing just one or two of these features may not be enough to rule Hoary in or out. I was even reading online about how the sacred bill size may not always be a reliable feature:
"Importantly, measurements of bill depth do not differ significantly between the species, so a Hoary should have a short and stout bill (if a 7 mm bill can be called stout). In other words, a Common’s bill should be longer and more slender, a Hoary’s shorter and stubbier. But this is also subject to overlap, and we don’t know if the longest-billed Hoaries still have a relatively thick bill or a bill shape just like Common (or if the shortest-billed Commons have slender or stout bills)."
Long story short, I thought I’d spotted two good candidates for HORE after standing around and freezing my face off (red Poll) for a few hours. And it was cold up there — solidly into the low minus teens when that Mount Royal wind got up. We were well prepared with layers, neck tubes, and flap hats, but cloth can only do so much. Toes started freezing after five minutes of inaction/immobility, and fingers…who needs those anyway?
After running my images of potential Hoarys by some online birders, they were dismissed as COREs. One guy did so based solely on “too much streaking,” but when I showed him Hoarys in Sibley’s with as much (or more) streaking, he changed his tune to “Well maybe it’s a female or immature Hoary, but it’s definitely not a male. Anyway, people think they’re not even a distinct species anyhow, so whatever.”
Well said. So it seems that unless you spot the ‘perfect Hoary Redpoll’ — one that shows every single feature, then Hoarys don’t exist, and it’s all just in your head. Or something. And I could just suck at birding.
In any case, it was nice to get out of the house.
