Mealy redpoll
Common redpolls (Acanthis flammea) are small birds in the finch family. They are remarkably resistant to cold temperatures and their winter movements are mainly connected with the availability of food.
The Common redpoll is a brownish-grey bird with dark streaks and a bright red patch on its forehead. It has a black bib and two pale stripes on the wings. Males often have their breasts suffused with red. The rump is streaked and there is a broad dark brown streak across the vent. It has brown legs, dark-tipped yellowish bills, and dark brown irises.
Common redpolls are found through northern Europe and Asia to northern North America, Greenland, and Iceland. They are partial migrants, moving southward in late autumn and northward again in March and April. Common redpolls prefer to live in boreal forests of pines, spruces, and larches. They can also be found in tundra, brushy and weedy fields, and around towns.
Common redpolls are energetic diurnal birds. They forage in trees, shrubs, and on the ground. They can hang upside down on cones and tree branches, bent twigs to reach the seeds and will search for food even under snow. Outside of the breeding season, they are social; they forage in flocks and during migration they can gather in flocks containing up to thousands of birds.
Common redpolls are herbivores (granivores) as they feed mainly on seeds, principally birch and alder seeds in the winter. They can also consume some wildflowers, grasses, sedges, and sometimes berries. During summer they will supplement their diet with spiders and insects.
Common redpolls are serially monogamous and form pairs only for one breeding season which lasts from late April to August. The birds build their nest low down in a tree or bush. The nest has an outer layer of thin twigs, a middle layer of root fibers, fragments of juniper bark and lichens, and an inner layer of down, willow buds and reindeer hair. The female lays 3 to 7 speckled eggs and incubates them for 11 days. The chicks hatch naked and helpless and fledge in about a further 13 days. They become independent from their parents at around 26 days of age.
Common redpolls are not considered threatened at present but locally these birds suffer from habitat loss and may be affected by future climate change.
According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of the Common redpoll is 60,500,000-145,000,000 mature individuals. The European population consists of 6,070,000-14,500,000 pairs, which equates to 12,100,000-29,000,000 mature individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, but its numbers today are decreasing.