Hopefully all of you are fit and well and staying safe, under the new restrictions imposed by Covid 19. Our winter birds are, fortunately, not under the same restraints and are still visiting daily, particularly the “Niger” seed eaters, the Red Polls, mentioned in my last missive, published, very kindly, in the 13 January 2021 issue of the NG Times. I apologize, if some confusion arose, over what I had written and what appeared in front of your eyes!
It was, in fact a picture of a Cardinal, not of a Redpoll, but, I’m sure, that not many of you were fooled by this mis-representation! Maybe some of you had to check your Bird Books to understand what was supposed to be there, which is not a bad thing is it!? At least it would have provided an interesting diversion from what you might, or might not having been doing, during these troubling times, to pass the time away. Hopefully it gave you some pleasure.
It could be argued that the editorial staff assumed that a Cardinal is a Red Poll, being, itself, red all over!! I’m sure that the bird Pundits would tremble, at the thought, as not being a fair comment, so I’ll not go there! I am including a picture of an actual Red Poll this week to compensate, for this apparent misconception.
Best wishes to all, Stay Safe,
John Baldwin
