Mealy Redpoll

The Common (Mealy) Redpoll is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is streaky brown above and whitish below with black streaks and has a bright red patch on its forehead, a black bib and 2 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 and a dark-tipped yellowish bill. The Common Redpoll is smaller, browner and more streaked than the generally similar Arctic Redpoll.

The Common (Mealy) Redpoll can be found through northern Europe and Asia to northern North America, Greenland and Iceland. It is a partial migrant and moves southward in late autumn and northward again in March and April. Its typical habitat is boreal forests of pines, spruces and larches.

The Common (Mealy) Redpoll does not breed in the UK but it is an autumn passage migrant and winter visitor, particularly to the east coast. Many taxonomic authorities consider the Lesser Redpoll, which is found in the UK, to be a sub-species of the Common (Mealy) Redpoll. However, the Common (Mealy) Redpoll is larger and paler than the Lesser Redpoll with which it often mixes, apparently without significant interbreeding.

The Common (Mealy) Redpoll builds its nest low down in a tree or bush. The nest typically has an outer layer of thin twigs, a middle layer of root fibres, fragments of juniper bark and lichens and an inner layer of down, willow buds and reindeer hair. The female lays 3 to 7 eggs which hatch after about 11 days with the young fledging in about a further 13 days.

The Common (Mealy) Redpoll feeds mainly on seeds, such as birch, alder, and insects.

Date: 28th June 2019

Location: Neljan Tuulen Tupa near Kaamanen, Lappi, Finland