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Redpoll

  • 03-01-2008 9:32am
    #1
    littlebug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,832 ✭✭✭


    Are these commonly seen in Ireland? From the pictures I've seen of them it certainly looked like a redpoll but I'm not sure.... should've brought the camera:( There was just one of them in the midst of lots of blue tits and various finches. He's there everyday apparently. What else could be mistaken for a redpoll?
    South Ulster area.


Comments

  • #2
    jmkennedyie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 678 ✭✭✭jmkennedyie


    Nice find. My impression is they are widespread, but low numbers. I have seen them only on a few occasions, and they were always near/with other finches (siskins, chaffinch, greenfinch). Have a single fella dropping into the peanuts every day or two at the moment.

    Interestingly, according to rsbp.org.uk Redpoll has now been divided into two species...Lesser (smaller, all year round), and Mealy (larger, paler, winter visitor to UK).

    Regarding other possible species,
    http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdidentifier/form.asp would help you see the alternatives in a garden scenario. Just note that Redpoll is called Lesser Redpoll and many of the species are not found in Ireland.


  • #3
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,499 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    By some weird coincidence, I'm pretty much 99% sure I saw one this morning on our peanut bird feeder. Red head and a pinkish-red breast ... very pretty. Also saw a Black Cap feeding off the fat block which is a first.


  • #4
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    The are common in gardens at this time of year. It's one of those birds most people don't notice until they are shown what they are. Widespread in Ireland in Winter and a regular garden feeder in the past 10 years or so. Nice to have!


  • #5
    juuge
    Closed Accounts Posts: 792 ✭✭✭juuge


    They are regular visitors to our garden feeder (peanuts) around this time of year in Wicklow and arrive almost always with a group of goldfinches.


  • #6
    Kess73
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    I was trying to attract more goldfinch to my garden and got plenty of Niger seed and a matching feeder. What it has done is brought plenty of lesser redpoll, have four to six of them each day now, mostly in the afternoon.


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  • #7
    juuge
    Closed Accounts Posts: 792 ✭✭✭juuge


    Kess73 wrote: »
    I was trying to attract more goldfinch to my garden and got plenty of Niger seed and a matching feeder. What it has done is brought plenty of lesser redpoll, have four to six of them each day now, mostly in the afternoon.
    The strange thing about goldfinches I find is that I never seem to see just one maybe two, they always seem to arrive in groups of six or more. They are truly beautiful like something you'd see in the tropics.


  • #8
    littlebug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,832 ✭✭✭littlebug


    juuge wrote: »
    The strange thing about goldfinches I find is that I never seem to see just one maybe two, they always seem to arrive in groups of six or more. They are truly beautiful like something you'd see in the tropics.

    I've anything up to about 15 goldfinches all at once at my feeders. They're gorgeous little things.


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