Photos of "Common Carrotpoll" (as mentioned in Reservoir Roullette post)

[Cathy Sheeter]

Sorry for the previous... not sure how that happened (reposting of Steve's post from yesterday")

 

Anyways- should anyone wish to see photos of the "Common Carrotpoll" (Redpoll with orange head and chest) can now see some on my flicker site at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aphelionart/ Definitely a unique bird! I will be honest - I was more interested in getting photos of this bird than documenting Hoary's :D

I have done a little bit of googling since seeing it yesterday and found out that while certainly not common, it is not really rare when birds come from certain regions (Scotland was mentioned in one post). I was not able to find any research proving whether it is nutrition based, like in House Finches, but suspect that it most likely is. Interestingly all the photos I was able to find in the short time that I looked online for birds with this trait were females, however my bird was a male, making his orange aura even more striking!

Happy birding!

Cathy Sheeter

Fort Lupton, CO