WINTER BACKYARD BIRDS (U.S. AND CANADA)

Hoary Redpoll

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Acanthis Hornemanni

Hoary Redpoll

They are similar in appearance to the Common Redpoll but generally paler.

Males are mostly white with a red crown patch and a pink-washed chest.

Females resemble males but lack the pink on breast and rump, the face is slightly grayer than males and forecrown shows a smaller red area. Sides of mantle and scapulars are more buffy-brown, underparts are whitish with grey-brown streaks on breast sides and flanks and undertail-coverts may have one or more shaft streaks.

Juveniles resemble females but have pale gray or washed buffish head and upperparts, broadly streaked dark except on the rump.

BILL: yellow, tiny and conical.

SIZE: small, measuring about 4.7 - 5.5 inches in length.

WEIGHT: weighs about 12 - 16 grams.

COLOR: white, red, pink, brown, gray, gray-brown, buffy-brown, and yellow.

Seeds, buds, catkins, and insects.

Open subarctic coniferous forest and scrub, and sheltered riparian areas on tundra, and winters in open woodland and scrub, weedy fields, and suburban and urban areas.

Arctic coasts from western Alaska, across northernmost Canada, and the northern coasts of Greenland.

WINTER - Alaska and Canada and northern states from North Dakota east.

A series of chittering notes with some rising, questioning notes.

NEST: The female builds an open cup of grasses, plant fluff, twigs, rootlets, hair, and feathers. Lined with a thick layer of feathers or plant fiber, and placed low in a small tree or shrub.

EGGS: 1 - 6 eggs, pale green to pale blue with dark spots and speckles at the large end.

INCUBATION: 11 - 13 days, female fed by the male.

They feed on small branches, often hanging upside down. They use their feet to hold food and will also visit bird feeders, especially thistle feeders.