In reply to Larry and Mona's message on redpolls: a few hoary's have
been reported in New England this winter. If you go on to the New
Hampshire birding website you will see that some were reported from the
Keene area at the weekend. In a subsequent message a photo of one of
those birds was included. However, I am not convinced that the photo is
not just of a pale common redpoll. The current taxonomy of redpolls is
in some disarray with some systematists claiming that there is no such
species as hoary and that all pale birds are just pale commons! The
exilipes race of hoary is relatively dark looking and gets pretty close
to common. So, a pale bird might be either exilipes or a pale common. My
feeling is that if it is distinctive enough looking in the field then it
is worth recording as a hoary. What do I mean by distinctive enough -- I
have only seen one undoubted hoary in my life, but it was WAY paler than
any of the pale birds that I have seen this year in VT, or the bird in
the NH photo (it was probably the hornemanni race). I have seen lots of
promising looking pale redpolls that on really close examination I could
not discount as just pale commons. My own criteria, for what they are
worth, are that if the bird has a completely while rump patch, little or
no streaking on the flanks or undertail coverts, and a generally very
pale look (the one hoary that I saw looked like a little flying
snowball), then it might be a hoary. Having said all that....I'm still
looking.

H

Hector Galbraith PhD
Galbraith Environmental Sciences LLC
837 Camp Arden Rd., Dummerston, VT05301
802 365 9119 (phone)