Carduelis flammea
| Predictably unpredictable winter visitors to the Rockies, Common Redpolls are often seen snowplowing through soft powder. Wintering redpolls can forage atop the snow, picking fallen seeds from its surface or plucking at emergent grass heads. The redpoll does not sink deep into the snow, because its light, fluffy body allows it to float on the softest snow without sinking beyond its belly. Wintering redpolls are remarkably fearless of humans, and as long as you aren't too aggressive, most birdwatchers can have a prolonged, intimate look at these small wintering finches. The scientific name flammea, Latin for 'flame,' refers to the red cap. | I.D.: Sexes similar: red fore crown (cap); black chin; pale bill; streaked rump; lightly streaked flanks. Male: breast often pinkish. Female: light gray breast. Size: L 5-51/2 in. (13-14 cm). Range: common migrant and winter visitor in the Canadian and northern U.S. Rockies; increasingly scarce southward; populations fluctuate from year to year. Habitat: open fields, meadows, roadsides, townsites, railways and forest edges in the montane and the subalpine. Nesting: on the taiga; in a shrub or among rocks, on a platform of twigs; cup nest is woven with small roots, grass, lichens and moss and thickly lined with ptarmigan feathers; female incubates 4-5 eggs for 10-11 days. Feeding: gleans the ground, snow and vegetation in large flocks for seeds, especially birch; visits feeding stations. Voice: song is a twittering series of trills; calls are a soft chit-chit-chit-chit and a faint swe-eet; indistinguishable from the Hoary Redpoll. Similar Species: Hoary Redpoll: unstreaked rump; very faintly streaked flanks; generally paler. Pine Siskin: heavily streaked overall; yellow flashes in the wings and tail. |