This week I wanted to share some cool facts that I learned about Redpolls. I have had about 24 Redpolls hanging out at my bird feeder for the past month or so. They are sharing the seeds with a handful of house sparrows who normally have the feeder all to themselves for most of the winter.
Redpolls are pretty, friendly birds and tolerant of patient photographers. I spent some time sitting outside last week watching them flit back and forth between the feeder and the willow tree in my back yard. Their constant darting and chatter makes the winter feel a little less lonely.
During winter, some Common Redpolls tunnel into the snow to stay warm during the night. Tunnels may be more than a foot long and 4 inches under the insulating snow.
Redpolls have throat pouches for temporarily storing seeds. They may fill their pouches with seeds quickly then fly away to swallow the seeds in a more protected, warmer spot.
A few banding records have shown that some Common Redpolls are incredibly wide-ranging. Among them, a bird banded in Michigan was recovered in Siberia; others in Alaska have been recovered in the eastern U.S., and a redpoll banded in Belgium was found 2 years later in China.
Common Redpolls can survive temperatures of –65 degrees Fahrenheit. A study in Alaska found Redpolls put on about 31 percent more plumage by weight in November than they did in July.
The oldest known Common Redpoll was at least 7 years, 10 months old.
Thanks for stopping by this week and learning alongside me.