It was a cold, windy, February day during a blizzard—but the weather was not enough to stop this brave flock of small birds with red caps. They used their short beaks to pry seeds out of dried birch catkins. These hardy birds are Redpolls.
The flock wasn’t too concerned about me or my tripod. They briefly left the birch tree as I approached, but returned after just a few moments. They were much too busy eating to care about the driving snow, the shaking branches, or me with the camera. This left me free to concentrate on getting a photo and keeping the lens dry.
Redpolls don’t live in Wisconsin year round; they summer and breed in the Arctic and the northern boreal forests. But in the winter, they head south, often dipping down into the lower forty-eight. Your idea of a winter getaway might be somewhere warmer than Wisconsin in February, but for Redpolls, it’s a prime winter migratory location.
Hardwood forests thin out as you go north, but birch trees remain hardy well up into the Redpoll’s summer range, and the seeds of these trees are a staple of their diet. They love to eat birch seeds, whether it’s in Alaska during the summer or Wisconsin in the winter.
Through the wind and snow, the Redpolls kept on working. Can you imagine foraging for your food in such conditions? They returned for several days until all the seeds were gone. Then, as quickly as they came, they were gone.
Have you ever seen a Common Redpoll?
The flock wasn’t too concerned about me or my tripod. They briefly left the birch tree as I approached, but returned after just a few moments. They were much too busy eating to care about the driving snow, the shaking branches, or me with the camera. This left me free to concentrate on getting a photo and keeping the lens dry.
Redpolls don’t live in Wisconsin year round; they summer and breed in the Arctic and the northern boreal forests. But in the winter, they head south, often dipping down into the lower forty-eight. Your idea of a winter getaway might be somewhere warmer than Wisconsin in February, but for Redpolls, it’s a prime winter migratory location.
Hardwood forests thin out as you go north, but birch trees remain hardy well up into the Redpoll’s summer range, and the seeds of these trees are a staple of their diet. They love to eat birch seeds, whether it’s in Alaska during the summer or Wisconsin in the winter.
Through the wind and snow, the Redpolls kept on working. Can you imagine foraging for your food in such conditions? They returned for several days until all the seeds were gone. Then, as quickly as they came, they were gone.
Have you ever seen a Common Redpoll?
