On 18th March I again walked around the paths in the same area, having to take shelter several times from frequent heavy snow blizzards. Just as another blizzard was starting I noticed a group of Mealies fly up from the floor below some Birch scrub alongside the path ahead of me, but I was forced to sit out the blizzard, before I could view or photograph them. When the blizzard had finished I located several birds but they were mainly hidden in the tangle of branches and each slipped away one by one as I was trying to get them in the scope for digiscoping, just allowing me to get a few very poor record shots. One bird suddenly came out and perched right out in the open but frustratingly, just as I was about to get a photo it flew away, though as it did so another bird flew up off the ground onto an adjacent branch. This was not quite as well positioned but I was just happy to be able to get a few shots as it stayed around for a good 30 seconds or more after all the other birds had gone, before it too gradually moved away. I was even able to bracket my exposures to maximise my chances of getting a better picture. This bird had seemed very pale on the camera screen, but I dismissed this as being because I was looking at the underparts, and even though it looked like the proverbial snowball for some reason it never entered my head at the time that it could be the pale bird I had seen previously, probably because some of the Mealies also appeared quite fluffed up following the blizzard (see photo 2), though nothing quite like this bird. As it flew away I got a very brief view of it with my bins, seeing the very prominent white rump and remember thinking to myself that this Mealy would be difficult to tell from an Arctic in flight but it still never clicked that this was because it was one. Shortly afterwards I reviewed the photos I had obtained on the camera screen. One photo immediately stood out as being the best (photo 1 below left) so when I got home I quickly cropped it and uploaded it to my diary page without taking too much notice of it.
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Recently I was browsing through some of my old photos and when I came across this same image again I was shocked to instantly realise that it appeared to be a fairly obvious Arctic Redpoll and not a Mealy Redpoll as I had originally posted it online. It then dawned on me that this must be the pale bird I had seen on 24th February and now felt certain that I had indeed photographed an Arctic Redpoll, so I decided to check the other photos that I took at the time to make sure. Fortunately I had been in a hurry to upload it the first time and had not had time to delete the surplus images, which help confirm, to me at least, that it is a pretty standard and fairly obvious exilipes Arctic Redpoll (probably 1stW). A slightly embarrassing mistake but fortunately I have noticed it before someone else has pointed it out. I never actually saw the bird properly in the field other than on the viewing monitor of the camera, at least that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it, though I'm not sure how I failed to notice as I was editing the picture. Although the picture was online for several months nobody ever questioned the identity of the bird and the same was photo passed around the D.O.S. Rarities Committee without raising any comments. Anyway I will certainly be checking my photos much more carefully in the future.
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Here I have included a few more images of this bird on the left with a few pictures of Common (Mealy) Redpolls on the right for comparison and a few comments on some of the general identification features separating the two forms with references to this particular bird. After clicking on a photo, note that it is usually possible to enlarge the picture further by holding the Ctrl key down and pressing + at the same time (Ctrl & - to return to original size). More Mealy Redpoll images can be seen here.
5 6 Overall Arctic Redpolls usually appear paler in the field though some Mealies can also be quite pale. Some Arctics appear whitish headed but probably a majority appear to have a pale buffish face, which usually appears plainer than on Mealy like the bird here. Most Mealies have a darker more contrasting face pattern with a more prominent dark eyestripe behind the eye and are more streaked on and behind the ear coverts. On Mealy Redpoll the darker eyestripe often makes the paler supercilium stand out more clearly though it more often extends onto the forehead in Arctic. Arctics can appear frosty headed, a fairly prominent greyish-white shawl contributing to this appearance, and this can be seen in several of the pictures. Mealies do show a similar shawl but this is usually much less prominent. Many Arctics have the centre of the mantle largely whitish and this can just about be made out on photo 7 as the bird turns slightly. Mealies can show greyish white tramlines in this area. Structurally Arctics are only slightly larger than Mealies but often appear fatter due to their looser more fluffed out plumage often concealing the legs, forming a fluffy snowball like appearance, obvious in the photos here and can make them appear very bull-necked. Mealies can appear bull-necked in comparison with Lesser Redpoll, but less so than Arctic. The bill is usually shorter on Arctic and often appears slightly pushed into the face as if it has flown into something in comparison to Mealy which has longer bill. I tend to think this bird is a first-winter based on the shape of the tail feathers, though this can be difficult to assess from photos and sometimes even in the hand.
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The underparts of Arctic are as a rule are a cleaner white than on Mealy, which usually has slightly more greyish white underparts and the flanks are usually much less heavily streaked, the rear flanks often having just very fine pencil like thin streaks on the rear flanks as on this bird, or occasionally completely unstreaked. These pale rear flanks create the wrapped around appearance of the rump. Mealies are usually quite heavily streaked in this area often with two or more dark tramlines extending the length of the flanks. The longest undertail covert usually has a very fine narrow dark central shaft streak, as on this bird, or can be completely ustreaked on some, whereas Mealies usually have much broader and darker tringular or arrow shaped centres to these feathers. Picture 3 gives probably the best view of the undertail coverts on this bird, though they can be seen on several of the photos and compare them with the adult male Mealy Redpoll in photo 4 (and note that adult males are usually the least well marked).
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Although Mealies can sometimes appear to have quite extensive whitish rumps in flight, the rump is usually difficult to see on birds at rest, whereas on Arctics it is often very visible fluffed out between the wings, as in most of the photos here. Additional features include broader white wingbars in Arctic than in Mealy, again noticeable in the pictures here, even though they are partly obscured. Also Arctic usually has broader whitish edges to the primaries and tail feathers, which on this bird causes the upperside of the tail appear white from this angle.
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If accepted this will be the first record of Arctic Redpoll in Derbyshire since the exceptional influx during the winter of 1995/96 when the species was first recorded in the county. A total of 16 records were accepted during that winter, though several others were never submitted. I was fortunate to find four birds at Williamthorpe during this period. One on 14th December appeared to be the first county record until it later emerged that one had been trapped and ringed at Ramsley a few days before.