Lesser Redpoll

We had a long day, so I'll be brief for now.  We headed northeast from Bormio, heading up to the Stelvio Pass at 2800 meters (ca. 9,000 feet), finding this little guy on the way. We drove down from the pass to the Resia Valley, and then back the entire way.  Back at the top of the pass, we had marvelous views of a Lammergeier (Bearded Vulture), a huge and very rare raptor, which was perhaps the major objective of the entire trip--we could hardly believe our good luck.  I got only a few fleeting shots--it was high overhead, so this redpoll will have to do as a blip.