Christine's walking & birds blog

There was snow on the ground this morning, and the redpoll was again in the garden, joining in the feeding frenzy or resting in the rowan tree with his feathers fluffed up. I walked out onto the porch and got a slightly better shot.

When he flew to the feeder I could see his back, which was streaked dark and light brown, with a buff colour "bleeding" into the whitish wing-bar. He had a pink rump. He looked a lot smaller when his feathers were sleeked down; in fact he was about the same size as a female siskin, and certainly not as large as a chaffinch. His bill might have seemed small and cute but, again, that was when he was fluffed up; I couldn't see it well enough when he was on the feeder. On the other hand, he was fairly robust on the feeder, and while defending his place when he finally got one he appeared rather bull-necked and large-headed. But taken all round, I think he was a lesser. Unfortunate name, really. One day maybe I'll encounter a mealy or an Arctic redpoll.....but in the meantime, I'll enjoy this one.