Icelandic redwing
Mick Fiszer
On 4th January 2009 I had been birding in the Walcott area for most of the morning. Just before midday I decided I had done as well as I could so started to make my way home to North Walsham, the route by chance taking me past Barrington Farms, a residential home for handicapped people. It consists of the home itself, some farm outbuildings and several small paddocks.
On passing I noticed a sizeable flock of Redwings and a few Fieldfares and, with a rare thrush in mind, I stopped to look through the flock, which immediately flew up into some nearby trees.
As I waited, they gradually returned to the paddock and while searching through them I came across one facing away from me which looked very slightly larger but much darker than the other Redwings. At first I was not even sure if it was a Redwing or not but finally it turned to face me and I could see clearly that it was indeed a Redwing. However, it was so heavily streaked underneath and the supercilium was such a deep orange/buff colour that I immediately thought of Icelandic Redwing.
I then called Andy Kane who came over and tried unsuccessfully to photograph it while I compiled a description:
Size very slightly larger and stockier than nearby Redwings, with a strikingly obvious orange/ buff supercillium. The underparts were a rather deeper shade of buff than the other Redwings present and the streaking was also much heavier, particularly on the flanks and undertail. The reddish flanks were also much deeper in colour, contributing to the bird’s darker appearance.
The bird was eventually photographed by Bob Cobbold on January 8th.
This constitutes the first live record of a Redwing of the Icelandic form coburni to occur in the county, the first being found dead (bearing an Icelandic ring) earlier in the same winter, at Kelling on 12th November 2008. The occurrence of two Icelandic Redwings and both Greenland and Iceland Redpolls in Norfolk in the winter of 2008/09 clearly points to an unusual influx of northwestern passerines.
On 4th January 2009 I had been birding in the Walcott area for most of the morning. Just before midday I decided I had done as well as I could so started to make my way home to North Walsham, the route by chance taking me past Barrington Farms, a residential home for handicapped people. It consists of the home itself, some farm outbuildings and several small paddocks.
On passing I noticed a sizeable flock of Redwings and a few Fieldfares and, with a rare thrush in mind, I stopped to look through the flock, which immediately flew up into some nearby trees.
As I waited, they gradually returned to the paddock and while searching through them I came across one facing away from me which looked very slightly larger but much darker than the other Redwings. At first I was not even sure if it was a Redwing or not but finally it turned to face me and I could see clearly that it was indeed a Redwing. However, it was so heavily streaked underneath and the supercilium was such a deep orange/buff colour that I immediately thought of Icelandic Redwing.
I then called Andy Kane who came over and tried unsuccessfully to photograph it while I compiled a description:
Size very slightly larger and stockier than nearby Redwings, with a strikingly obvious orange/ buff supercillium. The underparts were a rather deeper shade of buff than the other Redwings present and the streaking was also much heavier, particularly on the flanks and undertail. The reddish flanks were also much deeper in colour, contributing to the bird’s darker appearance.
The bird was eventually photographed by Bob Cobbold on January 8th.
This constitutes the first live record of a Redwing of the Icelandic form coburni to occur in the county, the first being found dead (bearing an Icelandic ring) earlier in the same winter, at Kelling on 12th November 2008. The occurrence of two Icelandic Redwings and both Greenland and Iceland Redpolls in Norfolk in the winter of 2008/09 clearly points to an unusual influx of northwestern passerines.