Feb. 3, 2008 - Mid-winter visitors from Canada's Arctic
At lunchtime on Monday, January 28th, my 11 year old loudly exclaimed and called me to go and look out one of the side windows. A mixed flock of Common Redpolls and Hoary Redpolls had travelled south from the Arctic to visit our backyard! They were feasting on the multitude of seeds hanging from our Paper Birch trees.
It was -30°C (-22°F), but being indigenous to the Far North, they weren't bothered by the cold. As you can see from the photo, Redpolls have well-feathered little bodies! For quite some time we stayed at the window, watching them fluttering from branch to branch.
The birds were quite pretty, in an understated way. Their heads were variegated brown with a tiny, bright-red cap. Their wing feathers were brown and white and their crisp tail feathers were a darker brown. The soft-looking feathers on their bodies were white with streaks of brown. Bead-like eyes were set just before a yellowish beak, with a black bib at their chins. The male birds had a pink area on their chests.
It took some time for us to determine which ones were rare Hoary Redpolls and which were Common Redpolls. There were far more of the latter, than the former. The Hoary Redpolls have white on the back above the tail; overall, they look as if their feathers have been dusted with frost. I guess that’s why they are called ‘Hoary’ as in ‘hoar frost'!
In the photo below, the bird on the left is a female Hoary Redpoll; the bird on the right is a female Common Redpoll. There were more females than male birds in this flock - I wonder why?
As I was afraid of frightening the eager birds away from their meal, I took photos through the window; the tree and birds were twenty feet away. I wish the resulting pictures were less blurry, but I’m happy to have had the opportunity to watch them and share our experience with you.
This is encouragement for all of us that, even in the coldest weather, it is possible to do nature study!
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Local Time in BC, Canada
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