Redpoll, Hoary

Description: Good luck with this one! It's a whiter, frostier version of the Common Redpoll, but even the hard-core birders don't always agree on the identification of this species. Hang around with the experts at the Enabling Garden and perhaps they can point one out to you. Look for this tundra-breeder traveling in a flock of common redpolls or goldfinches and siskins. This rare visitor is most likely to be found in alders or birches in winter feeding on seeds in cones and catkins.

Redpoll, Common

Description: About the size of a goldfinch, but appearing rounder, the common redpoll has a reddish cap on its head, a dark bib, yellow bill, and sometimes rosy pink on the breast. Redpolls are able to store seeds in their esophagus for later eating. In winter, look for small flocks of this little, vocal finch around alders and birches where they feed on the seeds, or at one of the bird feeders.

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