Stopping at the Fox River in Waukesha to check out the ducks I got a nice little surprise. In the Alder Trees that line the river there at a few locations, one tree in particular was loaded with the Common Redpolls. They looked very hungry and ate like it was their last meal eating seeds from the Alder Tree tiny cones. They flew a few times to other trees in the area and even some very large mature trees other than Alders. I have seem them here before back in 2016 so not a total surprise. I looked some for Hoary Redpolls but I did not see them. It was a very cold day with temps around 8 degrees with a little breeze, the sun hardly helped warm the air. Images were taken on January 3, 2022.
Common Redpoll, male, just perched on a stump, was eating some fallen cone seeds…
Common Redpoll eating Alder cone seeds…
A bill with a cone seed…
Getting all those seeds or trying to…
Yummy!
Male…
Always great photos.
I just love those little birds! Guess I won’t see any here in Florida!
These are beautiful shots of them
Are they at frame park area?
Thank you once again for sharing. I never want to take this for granted. Especially the connection with the alders.
I always look for redpoles but have never seen them. Good work!
Cute images Jim. Wish we could see one in our backyard!
We are in Brookfield and have a hundred Redpolls constantly at our finch feeders. They are so numerous that the goldfinches, downys, nuthatches, english sparrows, cardinals and juncos rarely come anymore. We had a few of Redpolls last year but not like this winter.