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Project Noah Nature School
Acanthis flammea
As energetic as their electric zapping call notes would suggest, Common Redpolls are active foragers that travel in busy flocks. Look for them feeding on catkins in birch trees or visiting feeders in winter. These small finches of the arctic tundra and boreal forest migrate erratically, and they occasionally show up in large numbers as far south as the central U.S. During such irruption years, redpolls often congregate at bird feeders (particularly thistle or nyjer seed), allowing delightfully close looks.
Hi Carl - I moved your spotting out of the mission Breeding Birds of BC as I don't know of any breeding record for that species in BC. Thanks!
Hi carlk25. Love your Common Redpolls but you should move them out of the BC Breeding Birds mission and put them in the Birds of the Pacific Northwest mission as I don't think they breed in BC. They are casual winter migrants here and breed across Alaska and northern Canada, almost down into BC and into the north of the prairie provinces. Nice spotting!
My do I feel stupid I've lived here for 30 years (same house) & have never seen or heard of these birds before. Last year I discovered the American Goldfinches have a winter plumage so I assumed the house finches did too! Thanks
It's a redpoll, since it has that saucy little red cap and a beak that's a bit pointier than a finch . I'm thinking a common redpoll , but someone is free to correct me and say its a hoary redpoll.
Spotted on Feb 6, 2013
Submitted on Feb 7, 2013
