Redpoll

Kess73 · 18-10-2011 11:15am #1

Anyone seen any or have any back in their gardens yet?

I is a bit early maybe, but for years my back garden starts filling up with Redpoll for their four or so month stay well before I start to see redwing. I spotted my first redwing on Sunday and today spotted two in my garden.

Guess I am just eager to see the redpoll back as I find them one of the most enjoyable species of bird to watch as their interactions can be wonderfully entertaining. I also love their arrival because each fall/winter I get them using my garden every day in pretty good numbers ( usually have between 30 to 100 of them each day all winter for the daylight hours), and as such the garden is full of movement and sound.

trebor28 · 18-10-2011 1:32pm

only saw a few sunday morning. took a few photos but had a dirty lens so they turned out crap.

E39MSport · 18-10-2011 1:46pm

Do they stay on these shores during the Summer?

I thought I had a good few of them around but they're gone now.

EDIT: - Collin's confirms

There were very healthy numbers about my area. Gone quiet now.

How would one identify our Winter immigrants?

Kess73 · 18-10-2011 2:09pm

E39MSport wrote: »

Do they stay on these shores during the Summer?

I thought I had a good few of them around but they're gone now.

EDIT: - Collin's confirms
There were very healthy numbers about my area. Gone quiet now.

How would one identify our Winter immigrants?

There is a resident population of redpoll in Ireland and the UK but it is not a big population. Their numbers increase to a huge degree during our winter as birds arrive from colder climes.

For me they are an amazing little bird. People speak of the staggering journeys that gets made by swallows each year, but for me the journeys made by some redpoll are just as astounding. Especially when people consider how small they are, in general they range from slightly smaller to slightly bigger than a blue tit, and the climates that they can tolerate. Such a hardy creature for such a tiny creature.

We mostly get/have the Lesser Redpoll and the Common redpoll (subspecies of this bird include the Mealy redpoll) here in Ireland, but we do get the odd Artic redpoll here as well.

As for what they look like, below are a few pictures of Common/Lesser/Mealy Redpoll. Their small size and forked tail generally give them away, but they can easily get mistaken for Twite (and vice versa) if you are not used to them, and also because you often get twite mixed in amongst redpoll.

[URL="[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/RedMike/Grazing.jpg[/IMG]"]

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littlebug · 18-10-2011 3:38pm

what have you growing in your garden that's attracting the redpoll Kess?

I've never had them in my garden but have seen a few locally.

Kess73 · 18-10-2011 4:16pm

littlebug wrote: »

what have you growing in your garden that's attracting the redpoll Kess?

I've never had them in my garden but have seen a few locally.

Well in my garden they flock to the niger feeders, and have done so for a number of years now since they discovered them.:D I tend to put out some extra niger feeders every winter on account of this, and when the numbers grow very large in mid winter I tend to put out ground trays with niger for them as well.

But what is most likely the original attraction to the area is the fact that there is land nearby, some of which is mine, that has a lot of pine trees and also a lot of gorse, thistle, birch with a nice sprinking of various skimmia and pyracantha amongst others. I imagine they were coming to that area before I got here, and the fact I planted more berry bearing and seed bearing plants probably made it a better feeding ground. The addition of an extra and constant winter food source through niger and seed feeders then probably turned my nearby garden into an extended part of their winter territory.

Hmmm as I type my regular male sprawk has arrived. He seems to have upped his number of feeding visits dramatically yesterday and today,and the various tits/finches/dunnocks seem to be feeding quite heavily today. Frost tonight maybe?

I don't subscribe to birds being an indicator of long term forecasts, but I defo believe they are a great indicator of weather changes in a 12-34 (maybe even 36) hour period. Pike are another great indicator of a cold snap as they usually start to feed very heavily three or four days before a cold snap.

V_Moth · 18-10-2011 6:51pm

E39MSport wrote: »

Do they stay on these shores during the Summer?

I thought I had a good few of them around but they're gone now.

EDIT: - Collin's confirms
There were very healthy numbers about my area. Gone quiet now.

How would one identify our Winter immigrants?

Lesser Redpoll (Ireland, Britain and central Europe) breeds in pine trees in bogs in central and western Ireland - disperse widely in autumn.

Mealy Redpoll (Iceland, central and northern Scandinavia) is a rare winter visitor.

Identifying the different taxa of Redpoll is very tricky due to variation within Lesser and Mealy Redpolls. Generally, Mealy tend to be larger and have a white ground colour to their plumage. See here for example. Lesser Redpolls tend to be browner, but there is overlap. IMO, biometrics from ringing would be the only way to be 100% certain.

Small flocks have been moving north over Dublin in last couple of weeks.

purplesnack · 18-10-2011 8:33pm

I've seen this bird at our feeder regularly during the summer. Can someone tell me if it is a redpoll? Sorry, the picture quality is fairly poor

. I've seen it with a smaller, less colourful bird that I presume is the female but I didn't manage to get a picture of them together.

V_Moth · 18-10-2011 9:23pm

purplesnack wrote: »

I've seen this bird at our feeder regularly during the summer. Can someone tell me if it is a redpoll? Sorry, the picture quality is fairly poor . I've seen it with a smaller, less colourful bird that I presume is the female but I didn't manage to get a picture of them together.

It is a tricky angle, but I think it is male Linnet rather than a Redpoll. The main reason would be the extensive pink breast and and the rather chunky bill.

purplesnack · 18-10-2011 9:59pm

Thank you for the response - I'm kind of new to birdwatching

. I think I need to get myself a better camera. I was trying to sneak up on it to get a better picture but it flew off anytime I got close. That was the best shot I could get!

Kess73 · 18-10-2011 10:44pm

V_Moth wrote: »

Lesser Redpoll (Ireland, Britain and central Europe) breeds in pine trees in bogs in central and western Ireland - disperse widely in autumn.

Mealy Redpoll (Iceland, central and northern Scandinavia) is a rare winter visitor.

Identifying the different taxa of Redpoll is very tricky due to variation within Lesser and Mealy Redpolls. Generally, Mealy tend to be larger and have a white ground colour to their plumage. See here for example. Lesser Redpolls tend to be browner, but there is overlap. IMO, biometrics from ringing would be the only way to be 100% certain.

Small flocks have been moving north over Dublin in last couple of weeks.

The Icelandic redpoll are now seen as a seperate subspecies to the Mealy Redpoll rather than both falling under the Mealy banner. Both are still seen as being a sub species of the Common Redpoll though along with another recognised sub species in the Greenland Redpoll.

Interestingly enough there is a second type of Greenland redpoll which was once thought to be the same bird as the Greenland redpoll that is a subspecies of the common redpoll, but now the second type of Greenland redpoll is recognised as being a subspecies of the Artic redpoll instead.

The Lesser redpoll was once seen as a subspecies of the Common redpoll as well, but it has been recognised as being a species in it's own right in the last few years.

Kess73 · 19-10-2011 10:41am

Excuse the poor quality pic as it was taken with a mobile phone, but as of 7:27am today.................

...........................the return has begun.:D

Plus there was a new visitor to the garden

cscook · 19-10-2011 10:19pm

Going to keep an eye out on my niger feeder in that case!! Something was certainly very active on it this week, the tray was littered with husks; we get occasional but not regular goldfinches which we love seeing when they stop by, but if we got redpoll I'd be thrilled.

Mickeroo · 19-10-2011 10:52pm

I put feeders out every year and I don't think I've ever seen a redpoll, are they found country wide Kess?

Kess73 · 19-10-2011 11:08pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

I put feeders out every year and I don't think I've ever seen a redpoll, are they found country wide Kess?

They would be quite widespread in winter. Then again just because a species of bird is widespread does not mean you may ever see them in your garden.

Take long tailed tits. Not an uncommon bird in Ireland, yet I have never had one in my garden, and up until this year I had never seen one anywhere in Ireland.

Then I found three spots that were overloaded with them, with two of the spots less than a mile from my house. Still have not gotten one in my garden though despite my garden generally being quite tit friendly as I always have good numbers of great, coal ,and blue tits all year round save for about eight weeks or so when they are going through their moults.

What I will say is that if you attract one or two to a niger feeder, then you can expect that feeder to get very busy within a week or two of the first one or two birds finding it.

Mickeroo · 19-10-2011 11:17pm

Kess73 wrote: »

They would be quite widespread in winter. Then again just because a species of bird is widespread does not mean you may ever see them in your garden.

Take long tailed tits. Not an uncommon bird in Ireland, yet I have never had one in my garden, and up until this year I had never seen one anywhere in Ireland.

Then I found three spots that were overloaded with them, with two of the spots less than a mile from my house. Still have not gotten one in my garden though despite my garden generally being quite tit friendly as I always have good numbers of great, coal ,and blue tits all year round save for about eight weeks or so when they are going through their moults.

What I will say is that if you attract one or two to a niger feeder, then you can expect that feeder to get very busy within a week or two of the first one or two birds finding it.

I've only got a peanut feeder at the moment(which I've not filled yet), the niger feeder I had got broke but it never seemed to attract much birds,they always seemed more interested in the peanut one.

Last year had great, blue and coal tits, gold, green and chaffinchs, blackbirds and cant think of anything else.

stevensi · 20-10-2011 2:23pm

purplesnack wrote: »

I've seen this bird at our feeder regularly during the summer. Can someone tell me if it is a redpoll? Sorry, the picture quality is fairly poor . I've seen it with a smaller, less colourful bird that I presume is the female but I didn't manage to get a picture of them together.

That's not a linnet it is in fact a redpoll. Redpoll's can vary in the amount of red they have on their breast. That one is particularly well marked but it is a Redpoll all the same!

Kess73 · 20-10-2011 2:30pm

stevensi wrote: »

That's not a linnet it is in fact a redpoll. Redpoll's can vary in the amount of red they have on their breast. That one is particularly well marked but it is a Redpoll all the same!

Somehow missed the link with the pic, but would agree that it looks more like a redpoll than a linnet. Even the redpoll I snapped on the phone yesterday is very well marked, and quite similar to the pic in the link. Was actually surprised at how much pink the male in my garden had on his breast and throat for the time of year.

V_Moth · 20-10-2011 3:58pm

stevensi wrote: »

That's not a linnet it is in fact a redpoll. Redpoll's can vary in the amount of red they have on their breast. That one is particularly well marked but it is a Redpoll all the same!

I hink it is an adult male Linnet. Look at:

Thickish grey bill
Size and Shape appear wrong for a Redpoll, the latter appearing more dumpy than the bird pictured
For Redpoll, there should be a dark stripe on the vent
Lack of streaking on the flanks
Lack of a pale-ish supercilium
Lesser Redpoll should show a browner tint to plumage

At the height of the breeding season, both adult male Linnets and Redpolls can have very extensive red wash to the underparts. The picture of the Linnet linked shows the characters of bird photographed.

Kess73 · 20-10-2011 11:45pm

V_Moth wrote: »

I hink it is an adult male Linnet. Look at:
Thickish grey bill

Size and Shape appear wrong for a Redpoll, the latter appearing more dumpy than the bird pictured

For Redpoll, there should be a dark stripe on the vent

Lack of streaking on the flanks

Lack of a pale-ish supercilium

Lesser Redpoll should show a browner tint to plumage

At the height of the breeding season, both adult male Linnets and Redpolls can have very extensive red wash to the underparts. The picture of the Linnet linked shows the characters of bird photographed.

You may well be right and it could indeed be a linnet for the reasons you listed, but I would agrue that the picture quality is not good enough to say for dwefinite that there is no streaking on the flanks, and when I enlarge the pic there seems to be a light colour on the beak and not grey. I cannot say for certain either way about the colouration of the supercilium.

With regards to the size and shape of the bird, a redpoll can look quite lean when stretching, and it could also be a bird that is new to these shores so could be a little underweight after it's journey.

As for the lack of brown on the bird, again the quality of pic comes into play in that. We only have one angle from distance and in a low resolution.

It could well be a linnet, but could just as easily be a redpoll imho.

I am leaning towards a redpoll because the beak does appear to be light in colour to my eyes, and because it ticks quite a few boxes for me for example the shape of the head, but I fully accept that your take could be 100% right

cscook · 19-12-2011 8:09pm

I had my first one today! Feeding on the nyger feeder along with the chaffinches and goldfinches. I knew something had been feeding heavily on it recently from the amount of husks I was having to take off the tray each day, but it's the first time I've had a chance to see the action. Hope he comes back, I didn't get any really good photos.

V Bull · 19-12-2011 9:31pm

I have lots of Redpolls (I think) in my garden on the nyger feeders fighting for a place with the Goldfinches...

And, I think the odd Linnet (greyish beak).....

Open to correction of course...

cscook · 19-12-2011 11:24pm

Good photos! These were the best I could manage - wrong lens on the camera and of course a manky grey day. Plus the tray under the feeder means that it swings more when they're hopping around on it.:(

Kess73 · 20-12-2011 11:39am

All hail our Redpoll Overlords.

Have my usual small army of them at this stage, but I also have an unusual amount of Chaffinch this winter.

Normally I have anything from three to ten chaffinch about the place at the same time, but this winter I am getting well upwards on twenty all hopping about on the ground at the one time. Where I once had loads of greenfinch I now have chaffinch arriving in numbers a few times a day.

I know the greenies in my neck of the woods were hit hard by disease over the past few years, and it would appear that the chaffinch have thrived in their absence or have simply moved in to avail of the food source the Greenies once had.

The most Greenfinch that I have seen together in the garden this winter is two, and I was delighted to see that pair as at least they still have some small presence in the garden.

E39MSport · 20-12-2011 12:54pm

Loads of Chaffinch here also. Quite agressive. High Blackbird numbers too and the wonderful winter Thrush.

cscook · 20-12-2011 2:26pm

Well, from that single visitor yesterday we were up to a mini-flock of 6 about an hour ago Feisty little things, aren't they! I think I'd better lay in more nyger seed...
Greenfinches have ever only been an occasional visitor here - still see one or two from time to time.
It does seem to me that there are a lot of chaffinches - I'm seeing a lot more than usual walking down to the local shops.

WildIreland · 21-12-2011 1:03am

Have had redpolls arriving in ones and twos at the feeders over the last couple of weeks... usually have a small flock of them kicking about.

Had a mealy in the garden last year -- cracking bird for West Cork -- stayed from early Jan to around mid Mar, on and off. Spent far too long poring over the intricacies of redpoll ID when I should have been working ;-).

Redpoll Comparison Shot by Ireland's Wildlife, on Flickr

Classic lessers this year so far... with the exception of a possible mealy last week -- but didn't stick around long enough for me to get a good look at it, let alone any photos. Will keep my eyes peeled over the coming weeks.

WildIreland · 21-12-2011 1:11am

Image of lesser / mealy comparison doesn't seem to be displaying in the above post.

UPDATE: managed to work out how to embed the Flickr image... :-)

Think Lesser and Mealy are both still subspecies of common redpoll (C. flammea cabaret and C. flammea flammea) here in Ireland aren't they? Lesser split in the UK.

Potential for an armchair tick perhaps.

Kess73 · 21-12-2011 5:40pm

cscook wrote: »

Well, from that single visitor yesterday we were up to a mini-flock of 6 about an hour ago Feisty little things, aren't they! I think I'd better lay in more nyger seed...
Greenfinches have ever only been an occasional visitor here - still see one or two from time to time.
It does seem to me that there are a lot of chaffinches - I'm seeing a lot more than usual walking down to the local shops.

They really are. If you start to get them in large numbers then you will have plenty of entertainment for hours each day through watching their interactions, and also by watching them explore your garden.

They will also feed on a windowsill if you use a small feed bowl/feedtable or one of the feeders that stick to windows. They are great fun to watch with only the pane of glass between you and them in terms of distance. Also up close you will discover that they have lovely patterns on them, and are far from the somewhat drab in colour bird they can look from a distance.

purplesnack · 03-01-2012 5:10pm

Kess73 wrote: »

Somehow missed the link with the pic, but would agree that it looks more like a redpoll than a linnet. Even the redpoll I snapped on the phone yesterday is very well marked, and quite similar to the pic in the link. Was actually surprised at how much pink the male in my garden had on his breast and throat for the time of year.

I've finally managed to get a few more photos of the this bird and it looks lile a redpoll alright. The photos aren't great but I have to take them through the window - my dogs scare the birds away if I go outside! I particularly like the dive-bombing chaffinch:)

Redpoll

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