The Ghostly Finch...

Hi there! Yes, has been quite a while - but hey, all good things are worth waiting far are they not? I departed for a two month trip to Peru shortly after the last post, and then I was super busy upon returning, and then it was Christmas, and then New Years... Well, you get the idea. I'd love to show you some high-octane photos from Peru, but my camera broke whilst I was there, so...


All is not lost though and I now have a super new camera, a Canon 40D that I am very pleased with. So it was nice to find this lovely Hoary Redpoll just a few houses from our own here in Toronto. I rushed back for the camera and temporarily abandoned the intended shopping trip to Loblaws - well, any excuse will do! I took a series of pix with my tiny 18-90mm lens and then got back to the task at hand. Considering the small lens I was quite happy with my photos of this ghostly-looking finch.


Hoary Redpolls are scarce winter visitors to southern Ontario. Often in with flocks of the more regular and numerous Common Redpoll they are usually easy to spot. This one was pretty straightforward being large and very pale overall. There are many features that separate the two species but caution is always advised due to some muddy gray areas within a narrow zone of overlap of plumage features, especially with immatures and females. This individual displayed very little streaking on the mostly white underparts and, more importantly, lacked any streaking on the under tail coverts. The rump (hard to see in the photos) was mostly unstreaked white, contrasting with the streaked upper tail coverts.

The ground color of the upperparts was very pale gray, streaked darker. The head was likewise pale with a restricted amount of red on the crown and black on the chin. There was a nice pale buffy wash on the cheeks.


Another view as the bird fed in a small white birch, totally unconcerned of its admirers! A great winter treat...

I should add that I do actually keep a yard list, and this would have been a new one for this vastly important list. I have to admit that I did rush back to my yard in a desperate bid to add it to my rather stagnant list - but it was just too far away, and too hidden by other trees so I failed miserably. Answer, get a niger-seed feeder...
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