Hoary Redpoll

After seeing the Great Gray Owl in Jackson, I went looking for a Hoary Redpoll that has been visiting a feeder at house in Ellsworth, ME... and I was successful! Chad Propst and I observed the Hoary Redpoll at a distance of about 10 feet. Then it flew off and landed in a tree at which time i got these photos. In the two photos you can make out the small pointy bill, limited streaking on flanks, limited/no streaking on the under-tail coverts and you can barely make out the clean white rump in the first photo.


You know you've had a great day birding when you see a Great Gray Owl and Hoary Redpoll within a couple hours of each other! (For photos of the Great Gray Owl scroll down from the hoary redpoll photos).

Great Gray Owl

Here are some digi-scoped images taken of the Great Gray Owl in Jackson, ME. It showed beautifully for a large number of birders who made the drive to see this bird. What a beauty!
You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

1st year mystery gull

Photo taken at Schoodic fish factory.
As soon as I saw this bird flying over my immediate reaction was Lesser-black-backed gull (LBBG) . It had a small all black bill and was about the same size as the nearby herring gull. It never landed but i did manage to get these two photo's using ditial camera and holding it up to my binoculars.
I would love feedback on the ID of this bird.