Taken in Finland, well inside the arctic circle, these Redpoll images have had people scratching their heads to confirm the true identity.
Those that know me are well aware that my ID skills are pretty poor, so I am not going to make confident claims about the true ID of either image. In the two images below, I have tried to present similar pictures showing the two species observed, in almost identical positions to help with the identification.
If you have any thoughts on the identity then please leave a comment or send me an email via the contact me button.
Hi Austin,
i think they are Mealies – the amount of flank and covert streaking and the general jizz doesnt feel right for Arctics. I have seen very similair individuals in Finland and Sweden and have put them down as Mealies.
Obviously, I might be wrong but that would be my guess.
Ta
Matt
Austin (and Matt),
I’d stick my neck out and disagree with Matt on the first bird at least. The overall ground colour of the mantle and nape is white, it’s got a large white covert bar and the undertail coverts look to be unstreaked. The ear coverts are fairly concolourous with the rest of the head and the flank streaking is light. I would be happy calling this individual Arctic Redpoll probably exilipes race.