Redpoll sighting

[Vanwinkds at aol dot com]

Fellow birders I spent last weekend at Great Basin National Park in
Nevada. While there I was fortunate to see a Common Redpoll. I thought
from the description in Sibley's that it was a Hoary. However, Sam Orr of
the Cape May Raptors Banding Association, thought it was most likely a
Common because this species has a somewhat more southern distribution than
the Hoary. Sam also from past banding experience says " the two birds in
the hand are difficult to distinguish without a careful examination of
characteristics.

I discovered the Common Redpoll in Wheeler Campground. This campground is
at about 9,800 ft. in elevation. The plant community is Limber
Pine-Englemann Spruce. The pair of redpolls were apparently feeding on the
ground in a grassy area. I watched the pair for about 3 minutes. The
temperature was about 68-70 degrees and the skies were slightly overcast
and it was around 1930 hours.

This is an exciting find and hopefully others will be able to confirm the
presence of this species. It would be great if they were found to be rare
residences of this sub-alpine to alpine community.

My name is Steve Van Winkle and my e-mail address is: vanwinkds@aol.com


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