The Redpolls are coming! The Redpolls are here!

Photos by Bernie, words by Maeve

PS to the following story: The title says the redpolls are here - but it doesn't say they're actually in the house with us!

Two days ago, we saw a Common Redpoll lying in the snow, motionless. We guessed that it was stunned from flying against the house trying to escape a flying predator, but we had no way of telling how long it had been out there in the cold. The tiny bird was still breathing, so we picked it up, brought it into the warm house and put it into a small box. After about an hour, we heard some movement in the box! 

The bird looked alert, with little eyes open and looking around, but it didn't flutter its wings or make any attempt to fly. We again wondered how long he (it's an adult male) had been motionless in the cold and how chilled it had become. 

After another hour, the redpoll started exercising his wings. We took him outdoors, and he stood on Maeve's hand for barely two seconds. Then another redpoll called, and our tiny visitor took off like a flying arrow. A happy ending!

Several weeks back, we posted Northern Birds On Their Way! This is an irruption year, when several species that usually stay in Canada all year were expected to show up in Vermont, driven here by poor cone and seed crops in the north. 

For the past week, we've been enjoying a good-sized flock of one of these species! Common Redpolls have descended en masse, over 50 at a time, twittering in all the trees, flitting about from feeder to feeder, covering parts of the back yard.

The males of these uncommonly adorable birds have dark red on the tops of their heads and rosy pink on their breasts. Females also have the little red "polls". 

Adult males are greatly outnumbered in "our" flock. We've got mostly adult females and immature males, birds hatched in 2020. Many males apparently stay in Canada to guard their chosen breeding territories.

The big and busy redpoll flock sometimes keeps us from noticing other visitors: 

House Finch

Tree Sparrow

Red-breasted Nuthatch - another irruption specialty!

Tufted Titmouse

White-breasted Nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee

And a few more redpolls, just because they're so darned cute! 

Photos by Bernie, words by Maeve

        The Redpolls are probably surprised if not bewildered after traveling from their deep Northern lands of Canada, to Vermont, to then find sunflower seeds in Christmas (Balsam) trees.

Added note about redpolls dying: Karen in Manchester Center wrote that they have Common Redpolls and possibly some Hoary Redpolls at their feeders. They've been finding the little birds dead and have noticed that some of them "puff up their feathers" so they look "like chubby white cotton birds". Fluffed-up birds almost always indicate the presence of disease. Members of the finch family, including redpolls, are susceptible to a kind of avian conjunctivitis (which is obvious in their swollen eyes) and salmonella. When a bird has salmonella, it huddles up, puffs up, sometimes shivers, and very often dies. Salmonella is spread through bird feces, so it's very important to take down all the feeders, empty them, throw out any unused seed, rake up dropped seed from the ground, and then clean the feeders in a weak bleach solution (10 parts water, 1 part bleach) and allow them to dry thoroughly before refilling. You might also want to stop feeding at all for several days. The birds will go elsewhere, but they'll probably return.

Good luck!

Emailed Comments

Thank SO much for sharing your photos - now and every time! But especially this week. I really need to remember this joy of Redpolls.

Thanks for all you do to create community!

Best,

Wendy

Thank you for sharing. Beautiful photos on your blog!

Ann

Very timely!  We saw a pair at our feeder this afternoon and had to key them out.  We live in Westford near the Common.

Lori

We have seen them too over here on Creekside Rd!  So darn cute! 

Deb

Yes the red polls were at my feeder today also. I was so happy to see them. Happy watching. Patty 

Nice photos, Maeve! Thanks for sharing that. I also have yet to find a redpoll that I would call a Hoary, but I keep looking! Despite seeing many flocks of redpolls around here, we've only had one solitary bird visit our feeder briefly, and it didn't stick around. But we'll keep hoping.

Dave G.. Cornwall

Thanks for posting this -- now I know I wasn't imagining the flock I saw at my house a couple of days ago!  First I saw a pair of what I was pretty sure were Redpolls, under my front porch feeders.  Haven't seen one in decades.  Then while walking my dog I heard tremendous twittering and looked up to see at least 40 birds in the tops of a row of birch trees.  Besides the lovely sound, I was struck by the way many of them seemed to be hanging upside down from the smallest twigs.  I could have watched them for ages.  I was so far away that I couldn't identify them with any certainty, but everything about them made me feel they were not one of our usual birds.  I tried to sneak closer but they took off, wheeling around several times in a very dramatic fashion, and then took off in the direction of your house.  It was really thrilling.  

Objectively described, the Redpoll is very similar to a House Finch, but in person they had a very different look.  They seem whiter, with a delicate watercolor wash of pale pink.  Really adorable, and I hope I'll see them again.

Lynne