Sunday, April 10, 2016

Redpolls are visiting Regina again - Going North?

Female Common Redpoll. © Copyright, Shelley Banks, all rights reserved
Female Common Redpoll on our feeder this week. © SB
We've seen very few Redpolls in our Regina, Saskatchewan, backyard this winter — but now one is back.

These birds seem  to follow different routes north and south each year.

During the winter, we had a small flock of five or six birds drop by for seeds below the feeder. They were here for one evening only. A few posed on the bare lilac branches, and by morning, all were gone.

This week, a single female Comon Redpoll is back, shyly pecking for seeds and avoiding the other birds. (Going back north? I wonder.)

It seems odd to me to see solitary Redpolls, like I often do in Regina. When I see these tiny finches at the Abbey in Muenster, where I go for February writing retreats, they are usually in large flocks, singing as they swoop from tree to tree.

Female Common Redpoll. © Copyright, Shelley Banks, all rights reserved
On of the female Common Redpolls
that dropped by our Regina backyard in late January. © SB
Small Flock of Female Common Redpolls. © Copyright, Shelley Banks, all rights reserved
Others in that January mini-flock of Common Redpolls.  © SB

The winter Redpoll flock at the Abbey also include vibrant males, as well as the occasional and rarer Hoary Redpoll, which is the same size but a far paler bird than the brown-belly-speckled Common Redpoll. Below are some shots of birds I took at St. Peter's in February... and my guesses about which might be Common Redpolls, vs Hoary Redpolls.

Female Hoary Redpoll. © Copyright, Shelley Banks, all rights reserved
Female Hoary Redpoll, all silvery white with a tiny bill
(Or, then again, there is a tiny blush of red on its chest - an immature male?) © SB
Male Redpoll. © Copyright, Shelley Banks, all rights reserved
Male Redpoll - I think likely Common, from the bill size,
though he doesn't have much streaking, so maybe Hoary?  ©SB
Female Common Redpoll. © Copyright, Shelley Banks, all rights reserved
Female Common Redpoll   © SB
Male Common Redpoll. © Copyright, Shelley Banks, all rights reserved
Male Common Redpoll  © SB

What are these? Female and Male Common Redpolls, with one (?) Hoary Redpoll. (The ones with red chest markings are male.)   
Location: Top three images: Backyard, Regina, Saskatchewan; bottom four: Near Muenster, Saskatchewan, Canada. 
Photo dates: Top: April 7, 2016; next two: January 31, 2016; four Muenster birds: February 19 - 23, 2016.  

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