[CT Birds] Fw: NNYBirds: "Greater" Redpolls

[wingsct at juno.com]

Forwarded with permission from Mike Peterson of northern NY and Montreal.
Interesting information about the different Redpoll populations.  So keep your
eyes to the sky and great birding!

Meredith Sampon
Old Greenwich



---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Three of 25 Common Redpolls banded at my feeder 2.5 mi. NE of
Elizabethtown this morning were "Greater" Common Redpolls (C.f.
rostrata), and those with flocks of redpolls at their feeder may wish to
look for birds that might belong to this recognizable form that breeds on
Baffin Island and Greenland. An Ontario bander reports that near Ottawa
"Greater" is more common than Hoary Redpoll in some winters, which my
local banding supports. In past years, "Greater" Redpolls have appeared
early in flight winters, with birds previously banded at E-town between
15 December-30 January.

Compared to the usual nominate "Lesser" Common Redpoll (C.f.
flammea), the "Greater" is larger, darker, heavier, more heavily steaked,
and has a stouter bill, more like that of a House Finch. In the hand,
the difference is readily apparent, much like holding a Yellow-rumped
Warble in one hand, a Bay-breasted in the other, but in the field the
difference in size (length ~5" in flammea, ~5.5" in rostrata) may be less
apparent. Wing chord on those banded today ranged from 68-77mm on
flammea, 78-81 mm on rostrata, helpful in the hand, but not useful to
feeder-watchers. 

Sibley advises that the Greenland ("Greater") population averages
10% larger than "Southern" and is heavier-billed, darker with heavier
streaking overall, more extensive black on throat, and darker buffy-brown
wash on head, adding that intergrades occur where the ranges meet. This
is at odds with the range map in Godfrey (1986) that shows a gap between
the two Commons, much like that between the two Hoaries. As with the two
Hoary Redpolls, such "intergrades" are apparently the result of age, sex,
and individual variation, not hybridization.

Peterson's field guide once noted that the two races are "fairly
obvious when the two birds are together in the same flock," a point no
longer made in today's 2002 edition, but perhaps still the best advice
available.

Although I'm unable to find mention of it, voice may be helpful. 
Today's "Greaters," like those banded in prior years, gave a loud,
distinctive "chert-chert-chert-chit!" while held briefly in captivity,
quite different from the usual twittering "chet-chet-chet-chet..." of
flammea. I've also heard this call outside at the feeder, and it helps
alert me to the presence of a possible rostrata.

Since some authorities suggest four redpoll species (flammea,
rostrata, hornemanni, & exilipes), the differentiation could someday be
important. Major redpoll flight years are irregular, flights with
"Greaters" perhaps even more irregular, and they seem to favor the
leading edge of those flights in our region, based upon current records. 
Give that flock at the feeder a critical look and hope for a possible
sighting of a "Greater" Redpoll. --Mike Peterson, Elizabethtown &
Montréal

"Standing there I am reminded of the incredible phenomenon of small birds
in winter-- that ere long amid the cold powdery snow, as it were a fruit
of the season, will come twittering a flock of delicate crimson-tinged
birds, lesser redpolls, to sport and feed on the seeds and buds now just
ripe for them on the sunny side of a wood, shaking down the powdery snow
there in their cheerful social feeding, as if it were high midsummer to
them. These crimson aerial creatures have wings which would bear them
quickly to the regions of summer, but here is all the summer they want. 
What a rich contrast! tropical colors, crimson breasts, on cold white
snow! Such etherealness, such delicacy in their forms, such ripeness in
their colors, in this stern and barren season!" --Henry David Thoreau,
Notes on New England Birds 


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