ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Oh My Goodness, The Redpolls Have Irrupted!

Updated on November 25, 2013
Male Common Redpoll working at a sunflower seed.
Male Common Redpoll working at a sunflower seed. | Source

It was February, in the middle of a snowstorm that dumped over a foot of snow here. I heard the excited chirps high in the tree tops while I was shoveling my way to the woodshed. They were small birds, and there were myriads of them! Perched in the dark grey branches on a cold, grey day I found it hard to pick out any colors at all. Besides that, my glasses would become covered with snow every time I looked upward!

Male American Goldfinch
Male American Goldfinch | Source
purple finches in snowstorm
purple finches in snowstorm | Source

We usually have large flocks of goldfinches that hang around all winter. That was my first guess, and my second guess was purple finches.

I had read in Audubon magazine that this might be a good year to see purple finches during the wintertime. Although I had seen several purple finches the week before, these did not sound like the lovely and bubbly purple finches that usually appear in spring. Nor did they say “zeee-zee” as do the goldfinches.

Having finally reached the woodpile, I gathered up enough wood for the day and headed back to the warmth of the house. By then my fingers and toes were frozen, and my one thought was to start a fire and warm up.

The next day the sun was shining intermittently. As I glanced out toward the bird feeders I noticed that all 6 of them were loaded with small birds. It was time to fill the feeders anyway, so I again grabbed my shovel and worked my way out to the hungry birds. By now they were covering the ground beneath the feeders searching for morsels on the snow.

Flock of Common Redpolls under feeders.
Flock of Common Redpolls under feeders. | Source

These friendly little guys didn't mind my presence at all. In fact a couple of them flew so close that I could feel the air from their wing beats. The nearer I came the more I realized that these were definitely not goldfinches. Nor were they the purple finches I had seen a week earlier. I had never seen these birds in person before in my life!

Once I recognized them as beautiful, cheery little common redpolls, I knew I had an irruption on my hands! That term in this context applies to a sudden large influx of birds that have ventured out of their known territory to find food. There was an irruption of Snowy Owls just last year in the American Plains. If you know anything about ‘Harry Potter’, you know that Hedwig was his snowy owl.

Redpolls are members of the finch family; they live and breed in the arctic and Canada. They move as far south as extreme northern New York State normally. Male Common Redpolls have splashes of red on their chest feathers, and are heavily streaked on their sides and underparts with dark brown. Redpolls especially love nyjer (thistle) seed. It seems they are not picky though, because they were swarming all over the suet feeders and the sunflower feeders as well as the thistle feeder. They wear bright red patches on their foreheads and have black chins and faces, and yellow beaks. Look for a bold white wing bar as well as a short notched tail.

Common Redpolls in tray feeder.
Common Redpolls in tray feeder. | Source

My chickadees seem to give these small red finches free reign at the feeders, but the juncos are not intimidated by their numbers at all. They chatter excitedly to one another, and seem to always be in motion. Redpolls have a unique way of socializing and sharing by passing a seed from one bird down the line to another, which then passes it along to yet another, and so on. Their song is very sweet, and I mean that quite literally because that is what they actually sing: ‘swe-e-e-eet’.

Click thumbnail to view full-size
Female Common Redpolls on nyjer tube feeder. Female Common Redpoll on sunflower gazebo feeder. Another view of Redpolls on nyjer feeder. Male Common Redpoll eyeing sunflower seeds in hanging tray feeder.
Female Common Redpolls on nyjer tube feeder.
Female Common Redpolls on nyjer tube feeder. | Source
Female Common Redpoll on sunflower gazebo feeder.
Female Common Redpoll on sunflower gazebo feeder. | Source
Another view of Redpolls on nyjer feeder.
Another view of Redpolls on nyjer feeder. | Source
Male Common Redpoll eyeing sunflower seeds in hanging tray feeder.
Male Common Redpoll eyeing sunflower seeds in hanging tray feeder. | Source

My Short Video of the Redpolls at the Bird Feeders

Are You Familiar with Little Redpolls?

See results

Along about the time the redpolls had begun to work at the newly-filled bird feeders, a deer made its way into their field of vision. They all rose in flight as one and filled the upper branches of nearby trees. Once they realized the deer was not a threat, the whole ‘gallup’ (the collective name for a group of redpolls) flew back and settled in comfortably as they chowed down.

In my research I found that, according to Whatbird.com, Common Redpolls sometimes are found as far south as the Carolinas, Oklahoma and northern California. They enjoy the arctic climate and tunnel under the snow to shelter against the frigid nights. To date they are considered a bird of least concern, meaning their numbers indicate a healthy, normal population without fear of extinction any time soon.

I wouldn't mind having these friendly and colorful American finches around here on a regular basis. However, I would need a second job to keep them in seeds! Still, I feel quite honored that they chose my backyard as their temporary home away from home. It’s always fun for me to discover a bird I've never met before!

Common Redpolls are very active!
Common Redpolls are very active! | Source
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)