Common "Mealy" Redpoll 1Lesser Redpoll 8Siskin 5Goldfinch 40Teal 2 male and female Tufted Duck 7Lapwing 100 flew over heading in the direction of Prescot Reservoirs Year 125
Given the relatively large numbers of Lesser Redpolls at the mere this winter, I'm not entirely surprised that there is a Mealy with them, and I have been looking out for them. It was a good day for observing the finch flock today, because they were feeding mainly on the ground, probably due to the strong winds, and I was surprised at how easy the Mealy was to pick out. On the ground it was clearly larger and bulkier than the Lesser Redpolls and greyer in tone. It also had two distinctly white wing bars and white edges to the tertial feathers. Best of all though, when I first saw it, it was sitting low down on a branch preening, and I saw very well its white, streaked rump. The photos are poor, but they do show the white wing bars and the white edges to the tertial feathers quite well.There have been Mealys at the mere in the past, and they are probably under recorded, but this was my first at the mere since I saw a flock of 20 in 1996. Lesser Redpoll is the species which breeds in Britain, Common Redpoll is a continental species, breeding in Scandinavia. Until recently they were considered races of the same species, but they are now seperate species. There is an informative article about identifying mealys
here. Click
here to see photos of a Mealy I photographed in the hand on Hilbre in 2009.
Given the relatively large numbers of Lesser Redpolls at the mere this winter, I'm not entirely surprised that there is a Mealy with them, and I have been looking out for them. It was a good day for observing the finch flock today, because they were feeding mainly on the ground, probably due to the strong winds, and I was surprised at how easy the Mealy was to pick out. On the ground it was clearly larger and bulkier than the Lesser Redpolls and greyer in tone. It also had two distinctly white wing bars and white edges to the tertial feathers. Best of all though, when I first saw it, it was sitting low down on a branch preening, and I saw very well its white, streaked rump. The photos are poor, but they do show the white wing bars and the white edges to the tertial feathers quite well.There have been Mealys at the mere in the past, and they are probably under recorded, but this was my first at the mere since I saw a flock of 20 in 1996. Lesser Redpoll is the species which breeds in Britain, Common Redpoll is a continental species, breeding in Scandinavia. Until recently they were considered races of the same species, but they are now seperate species. There is an informative article about identifying mealys here. Click here to see photos of a Mealy I photographed in the hand on Hilbre in 2009.
Hi Colin, whats the difference between lesser and common redpolls ,is it just size?The former smaller?
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