Thursday, January 31, 2013

Hawfinch

Female Hawfinch, Wimpole 31st January 2013 © James Hanlon
'Having checked some lit I'm pretty sure the bird is an adult female. The pale grey colour of the secondaries give the sex away (the colour of the lores and possibly the deep ginger of the tertials also suggest it's a female) but they're not always easy to age. In my opinion there doesn't appear to be an obvious moult contrast in the greater coverts or retrices and this suggests to me at least the bird is adult rather than first year.' JH

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