Tom walked in this morning, and said, “the redpolls are back.”
To a non-birder that sentence could have sounded more like ” the red poles are back”, which brings up all sorts of ideas. New fencing for the farm? Red-painted snow stakes for along the driveway? But, oh, wait, of course. Tom means the birds.
Much of the winter, the woods are silent. You might hear a raven or a junco, but not often. This week there has been some more twittering than usual outside, and that is because the redpolls (Acanthis flammea) are here.
These cute, small finches, which nest and breed around the Arctic Circle, travel farther south in the winter. You are not guaranteed to see them every year, but if you put out thistle feeders, you just might have a flock visit your house for some of the winter.
Check out Cornell’s Ornithology Lab to hear what these fellas sound like and to see a map of the redpolls range.