Although this post is about Redpolls, I wanted you to see the environment that these little members of the finch family inhabit. We've been running lows of -24 degrees C to highs of 0 degrees C. The temperature differences have been fast and furious with some rain yesterday turning to wet snow to snow later on. Today it's sunny and -27 C with the windchill, -29 C, somewhere around minus 20F. The first shot is of the far river bank, and the almost sepia tones indicate the degree of cloud cover.
The white areas in the forefront are river areas where the river meanders, and an ice skim forms. The second shot is the River looking south. You can see the fog over-laying the ridge.
But it's cold enough for the fog to create a frost, which runs from heavy to extra heavy.
This is the extra heavy ice crystals. It's really no warmer, no matter what the temperature is. In fact it's just a choice between dampness, or intense cold. Frankly,I prefer the cold. But this and more is happiness to The Redpolls.
This map courtesy of Cornell Labs puts me firmly in the blue, the winter vacation area for the Common Redpoll. Summer puts them in the James /Hudson Bay area, which is their breeding grounds. The point: these are tough little guys. I tried to work out how far I am from the Boreal using the train map to White River, and converting to a direct distance. About 150 miles I'd say, but it's a guess. Nevertheless I'm just on the border of the Boreal forest. So I'm just a natural destination for them.
This map courtesy of MNR Canada shows the Boreal forest area of Canada, which is second only to Russia in extent. In fact all the provinces have a piece of the Boreal except the Atlantic provinces. Newfoundland has a piece of the Boreal by virtue of its ownership of Labrador. The NW Section of the Boreal forest in Ontario ( Lake Superior and north only) to give you an idea of size would extend from Paris and Munich in the south to Scotland and Denmark in the north. Mostly I'm on the fringe of the Boreal; in fact in the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence forest, a temperate forest, although as I've said before we have all the coniferous and soft woods of the Boreal as well as extensive wetlands and bog land. The Redpoll is a birch tree follower living on the seed pods, and the Vermilon Forest is full of them.
So here is the hardy little fellow. About the size of White-throated Sparrow, smaller than a goldfinch even, these birds inhabit the Boreal. This is a female Common Redpoll. There is another edition, the Hoary Redpoll. They travel together, but I haven't seen any yet.
The male has a red flash on his chest area just below his head.
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| Female Common Redpoll |
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| Male Common Redpoll |
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| Female Redpoll |
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| Female Redpoll |
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| Female Redpoll. |
It's quite common to find Goldfinch travelling with the flock of Redpolls, as they're after the same seed in the birch pods.
They're aggressive and travel in flocks. I was initially shooting them on the west side of the River, but more have moved in. My flock has about fifty in it. They'll even stand up to this Blue Jay, when it comes down to food.
Although this post is about Redpolls, I wanted you to see the environment that these little members of the finch family inhabit. We've been running lows of -24 degrees C to highs of 0 degrees C. The temperature differences have been fast and furious with some rain yesterday turning to wet snow to snow later on. Today it's sunny and -27 C with the windchill, -29 C, somewhere around minus 20F. The first shot is of the far river bank, and the almost sepia tones indicate the degree of cloud cover.
The white areas in the forefront are river areas where the river meanders, and an ice skim forms. The second shot is the River looking south. You can see the fog over-laying the ridge.
But it's cold enough for the fog to create a frost, which runs from heavy to extra heavy. 
This is the extra heavy ice crystals. It's really no warmer, no matter what the temperature is. In fact it's just a choice between dampness, or intense cold. Frankly,I prefer the cold. But this and more is happiness to The Redpolls.
This map courtesy of Cornell Labs puts me firmly in the blue, the winter vacation area for the Common Redpoll. Summer puts them in the James /Hudson Bay area, which is their breeding grounds. The point: these are tough little guys. I tried to work out how far I am from the Boreal using the train map to White River, and converting to a direct distance. About 150 miles I'd say, but it's a guess. Nevertheless I'm just on the border of the Boreal forest. So I'm just a natural destination for them.
This map courtesy of MNR Canada shows the Boreal forest area of Canada, which is second only to Russia in extent. In fact all the provinces have a piece of the Boreal except the Atlantic provinces. Newfoundland has a piece of the Boreal by virtue of its ownership of Labrador. The NW Section of the Boreal forest in Ontario ( Lake Superior and north only) to give you an idea of size would extend from Paris and Munich in the south to Scotland and Denmark in the north. Mostly I'm on the fringe of the Boreal; in fact in the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence forest, a temperate forest, although as I've said before we have all the coniferous and soft woods of the Boreal as well as extensive wetlands and bog land. The Redpoll is a birch tree follower living on the seed pods, and the Vermilon Forest is full of them. 
So here is the hardy little fellow. About the size of White-throated Sparrow, smaller than a goldfinch even, these birds inhabit the Boreal. This is a female Common Redpoll. There is another edition, the Hoary Redpoll. They travel together, but I haven't seen any yet.
The male has a red flash on his chest area just below his head.
It's quite common to find Goldfinch travelling with the flock of Redpolls, as they're after the same seed in the birch pods.
They're aggressive and travel in flocks. I was initially shooting them on the west side of the River, but more have moved in. My flock has about fifty in it. They'll even stand up to this Blue Jay, when it comes down to food. 
Wow! Purdy darn cold there! Beautiful Birds!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful winter shots and the bird photos are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThose little redpolls are beauties. And I thought it cold here ...
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me Gary, how such tiny birds survive such extreme cold.
ReplyDeleteSuch little beauties.
Tough survivors in that extreme weather. I can't even imagine how it must be like. Lovely little birds. It's interesting how different the colours are between the female and male redpolls. Great shot of the finches and that Blue Jay.
ReplyDeleteThey sure are hardy creatures, and need lots of fuel to keep them warm.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how birds like this - which are of much the same stature as birds which like a warmer climate and appear to have a similar cover of feathers - can survive / thrive in these temperatures when others can't. Is their metabolism different?
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful winter photos!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful little birds to see Gary..
ReplyDeleteIt looks so cold..
It's so mild here compared to last winter. Beautiful sunshine yesterday.. but storm winds today.. weird.
Great captures Gary! They are hardy little birds. We are much warmer here today, it's -15.
ReplyDeletei didn't realize redpolls were so small! thought of them like medium to large sparrows, but obviously not! :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful captures and interesting info about the hardy little Redpolls.
ReplyDeleteLiving in the tropics it's hard to imagine how anyone can live in cold like that - let alone tiny little birds! Beautiful photos.
ReplyDeleteNeat images of the Redpoll, Gary. Your landscape shots and description of your environment makes me shiver! Great info - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful birds and wonderful photos.
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful. Your snow images are lovely and, as always, your birds are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteLove your shotr of the common female Redpoll:) Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteHi there - nice little bird. One of the things that amaze me is now these birds get through the winter nights. They don’t exactly carry a lot of fat to burn to keep warm!
ReplyDeleteCheers - Stewart M - Australia
Wow Gary, it sure looks mighty cold there. Several have said how much they love the cold, but I have never found warm enough boots, even Uggs are not warm enough for me. The sweet birds always look like they fell into a pool of cranberries, delightful birds and they sometimes visit our grove too~
ReplyDeleteI have been watching the temperature drop in your section of Ontario as we see it in our Mid-Michigan weather reports. Lord, 20 below zero is COLD. In my relatively old age as a Firefighter I can tell you that the physics of water changes drastically at about 10 or 15 degrees F. It is brutal. How amazing then that these little birds thrive. I suppose Boomer is in his element as well!
ReplyDeleteThis is another of your epic posts, beautifully written and illustrated. The Vermilon River forest is luck to have you!
Good luck to you and Boom on your treks this year!
Great post!!!
ReplyDeleteRegards,
I've always had difficulty in identifying Redpolls when compared to the many variations of the House Finch.
ReplyDeleteLovely captures in an equally beautiful environment.
Wow! I prefer the cold, too, but I think that might be too much for me. But that tough little Redpoll! What a beautiful little bird! Wonderful information. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and informative post -- they are such lovely birds, especially in that wintery setting!
ReplyDeleteIntrepid little birds enjoying the cold weather -- and you and Boomer are both brave too to get out there in that cold every day. Thanks for doing it and sharing. Beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of these little birds! I love that flash of red on the males chest.
ReplyDeleteLove your ice crystals too.
This is such an informative lesson about a bird I don't know. The red poll is such a pretty little bird and sounds such an interesting bird to watch. Lovely photographs. Oh and it does sound really cold where you are.
ReplyDeleteWonderful bird shots and such gorgeous ice crystals!
ReplyDeleteWonderful post Gary. As you can see from your range map, Northern California is a long way from where the Common Redpoll is normally seen but we have a rare occurrence here of a Common Redpoll traveling with a flock of Lesser Goldfinches and Savannah Sparrows. I have been fortunate to see this bird after it was discovered on our Christmas Bird Count! It has been such a stranghe weather year this winter with several rare bird sightings. I hope people are using eBird to document their bird sightings. Thanks for all your information too.
ReplyDelete