I noticed the mention of lesser Redpoll in a blog from The Lodge earlier today. Last winter I had Redpoll appear at my nyger feeder and I have to say that I hadn’t really heard anything about Redpoll far less seen any. They stayed around for quite a number of weeks and numbers ranged from 1 – 2 to up to 10 - 15 at times. I’ve heard that there are Lesser Redpoll, Mealy Redpoll, Common Redpoll and Arctic Redpoll. I would really appreciate it if a few questions could be answered for me regarding these cracking little birds.
Is there a breeding population in the UK?
What are the differences between the different types of Redpoll?
Was there an influx of Redpoll last winter compared to previous winters and if so, why?
Which type of Redpoll are we most likely to see in the UK?
Photo of one of the Redpolls at my feeders in early April 2013.
Thanks in advance
Paul
Unknown said:I'll let the experts answer your questions Paul but look what Christine gets lol www.rspb.org.uk/.../670673.aspx
Wow..!! Thought I was doing well. Thanks for the link Alan.
Paul, The Common and Mealy are 2 names for the same species, so there are 3 not 4. They do breed in the UK and there was probably an influx last winter. The commonest must be Lesser redpoll. Now I need the expert - it is quite a pale individual so am going for Common / Mealy but I am sure someone will come on here and tell me I am wrong.
There are people here who know more about this than me but I'll get the ball rolling... Redpoll taxonomy is not really settled. But at present the BOU recognises three species - Lesser, Mealy (also known as Common) and Arctic (also known as Hoary). There are three recognised subspecies of Mealy and two of Arctic but I'm not going to worry about that for now :)
The only one of the three that breeds in Britain is Lesser Redpoll - it is also the most common redpoll here in winter. Mealy occurs as a winter visitor in highly variable numbers. Arctic is a scarce winter visitor.
The bird in your pic looks like a Lesser to me. It looks small and slight, with very brown tones. Mealy looks a burlier bird with paler and greyer tones and whitish wingbars; Arctic is paler still.
ETA - I was too slow to get the ball rolling!
Hi Paul - so glad you are getting redpolls in your garden (such a delightful little bird) and a chance for me to show off my redpoll photos again! Just can't help it - I've had this redpoll flock for the last two years and I've loved having them so much even though it did cost me a fortune in nyger seed. This year I've only got two so far, but I am so keeping my fingers crossed I get them in large numbers again. I've been doing bird counts for the BTO for almost three year now and I've just checked back in my records and for the last two years I've had redpolls in very small numbers from mid November onwards, with their numbers peaking to 50/60+ in January (presumably when a lot of the natural food has run out) and they stay until around April when they all disappear.
I have always presumed that all mine are lesser redpoll although I've never had them all checked out. As you will see from the photo below they can vary quite a bit in the amounts of brown/red/white on them.
What I really love about them is what peaceable little birds they are - just look how well they tolerate each other on the feeders. This year I have a much larger goldfinch flock than in previous years (20 +) and as soon as 5 or 6 of them are on the feeders together, they are knocking each other off!
Anyway here's the pic! (Sorry for being a bit of a show off!!)
I agree with Aiki, the bird in the first post is a Lesser Redpoll.
I'll add that Common Redpolls have bred occasionally in northern Britain, and it is possibly that they may do so fiarly regularly in very small numbers.
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ChristineB said:Anyway here's the pic! (Sorry for being a bit of a show off!!)
I can see at least two empty perches there Christine - when you get a shot with a redpoll on every perch that will be showing off! ;o)
Thanks folks. Very much appreciated. A little confusing as the most common one we see seems to be the 'lesser' and not the 'common'.(I suppose the 'common' will be more common than the 'lesser' in other countries though). Here's hoping for more of the same this winter.
Another Redpoll pic from April 2013.
Once again many thanks.
Lovely pic Paul, and nice to see the siskins amongst them.
Hi Christine. WOW.!! (Beginning to regret posting the 2nd image now).!! Haven't seen any this year yet but if I do at least the knowledge gained here should help me out in identifying them.
Once again...WOW..!!
-EDIT- X post. Alan: Get quite a few Siskins here as well (but don't tell Christine as she likely has photos of them in their hundreds)..!!
Don't regret posting it Paul - lovely photo, and I only get siskins in ones and twos, not hundreds!! Lol! And I'm still waiting to see whether I get that sort of scene again this year! There is such a lot of natural food around this year, everything might be a bit later arriving in our gardens!
I see you have the same sort of nyger feeder as me - lots of perches for the birds to sit on!
ChristineB said: I'm still waiting to see whether I get that sort of scene again this year!
I really hope you do Christine. Your photos are fantastic.