Redpoll vs. Goldfinch.
No matter how much food I put out, there's never enough for all of them!
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query redpoll. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query redpoll. Sort by date Show all posts
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Aggression
Redpoll vs. Goldfinch.
No matter how much food I put out, there's never enough for all of them!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Redpolls
This was a very welcome sight when I looked out of the window yesterday. We've had redpolls in the garden in winter before, feeding on birch seeds, but this is the first time that I've noticed them on the bird feeders. The hard weather, together with a shortage of birch and alder seeds, must have driven them to compete with the siskins and goldfinches for the thistle seeds.
The photos aren't great, because of the reflections in the dirty double glazing and poor light, but the birds let me get reasonably close. The Rev. F.O.Morris, writing in his A History of British Birds (1891 edn.) commented that 'They are gentle and lively birds, and, unless scared, may be nearly approached: they will even return to the same tree immediately after having been fired at'.
These days the camera has replaced the gun and they kept coming back to the thistle seeds all day.
This is a handsome cock bird, with his chest feathers suffused with crimson, sharing the feeder with a goldfinch.
The feather pattern on the redpoll's back is particularly attractive.
Siskins and redpolls often flock together in birches and alders but there was some mutual antagonism between them when they shared the feeder, with the siskins generally being the more assertive of the two.
The photos aren't great, because of the reflections in the dirty double glazing and poor light, but the birds let me get reasonably close. The Rev. F.O.Morris, writing in his A History of British Birds (1891 edn.) commented that 'They are gentle and lively birds, and, unless scared, may be nearly approached: they will even return to the same tree immediately after having been fired at'.
These days the camera has replaced the gun and they kept coming back to the thistle seeds all day.
This is a handsome cock bird, with his chest feathers suffused with crimson, sharing the feeder with a goldfinch.
The feather pattern on the redpoll's back is particularly attractive.
Siskins and redpolls often flock together in birches and alders but there was some mutual antagonism between them when they shared the feeder, with the siskins generally being the more assertive of the two.
Thursday, February 16, 2023
A close view of a hungry redpoll
I usually only see redpolls in silhouette, as twittering flocks feeding on seeds high in the canopy of birches and alders, so it was a surprise and a delight to find this one only a few yards away. It was feeding on seeds of rosebay willowherb, on the unmanaged grassy verge of the Deerness Valley Walk, a local disused railway line that is now a popular footpath.
I wrote about it in the Guardian Country Diary this week.
Occasionally, when we get freezing weather with heavy snow lingering on the ground in late winter, we have had redpolls visiting the garden bird feeders, but we haven't witnessed such a visit since 2013.
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