Quite a head scratcher of a bird today. I caught sight of a couple of Redpoll at Funzie and immediately noticed that one of them wasn’t a typical Mealy (Common) type.
They were quite mobile and it took a while to pin them down. Could it be an Arctic (Coues’) Redpoll? I watched for some time and they finally came close enough for some pics.
This is the putative Coues’
Another shot of the same bird
And finally
After much deliberation and close scrutiny of the pics, plus some discussion with a couple of Shetland birders, who are way more experienced with these species than me, we decided it was “just” a particularly bright Mealy.
Still, a nice bird and always good to find something that provokes discussion, even if the conclusion isn’t the rarity you first hoped it would be!
I wondered when the press would catch up with that fall of rarities.
It all started 6 days ago and the hardcore twitchers have been flocking there. Lots of other New World rarities up the West coast as far as Barra to the North and Scilly to the South.
I wonder how many thousands of them died in the Atlantic before those few hardy individuals made land.
It’s been an unprecedented week for yank migrants, people were comparing it to a spectacular fall in 1985 but that’s been surpassed by some distance now.
Shetland has finally got in on the act with the UK’s 5th Blackburnian Warbler today
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