Common redpoll: Wikis

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This article is about the species of birds in the finch family. For the breed of cattle, see Red Poll.

Redpolls

Common redpoll in Oulu, Finland.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Fringillidae
Genus:	Carduelis (but see article text)
Species
Carduelis flammea Carduelis cabaret Carduelis hornemanni

The Redpolls are a group of small passerine birds in the finch family Fringillidae which have characteristic red markings on their heads. They were formerly placed into the genus Acanthis together with the linnets and the twite, but their closest relatives are actually the crossbills, that are placed in the genus Loxia^[1]. The latter genus could be merged with Carduelis in a single genus, for which the name Loxia would then have priority. But this would imply to change the name of a large number of species, and as their adaptations and biogeography are evolutionarily quite peculiar, it would be better to reinstate Acanthis instead, including only the redpolls. There are several different very closely related (Seutin et al., 1995) forms of redpolls which could be considered as anything from one to five species (Knox, 1988). Recent studies (Herremans, 1990; Sangster et al., 2002) tend to support three species, but this is certainly not definite.

All redpolls are northern breeding woodland species, associated with birch trees. They are small dumpy birds, brown or grey-brown above and with a red forehead patch. The adult male's breast is washed in red, but in females and young birds the buff breast and white belly are streaked with brown. The bill is small and yellow. Some birds, particularly young ones, are difficult to assign to species.

They are primarily seed-eaters, and often feed acrobatically like a tit; their diet may include some insects in summer. They have a dry reeling song and a metallic call. They lay 4-7 eggs in a nest in a tree or, in the case of Arctic Redpoll, a large bush. They can form large flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes mixed with other finches.

The species are:

The Arctic Redpoll, Carduelis hornemanni (subspecies C. h. hornemanni (Greenland Arctic Redpoll) and C. h. exilipes (Hoary Redpoll))

The Common Redpoll, Carduelis flammea (Nominate C. f. flammea (Mealy Redpoll); subspecies C. f. islandica and C. f. rostrata (Greenland Redpoll))
The Lesser Redpoll, Carduelis cabaret

References

^ Arnaiz-Villena et al., 2001

Arnaiz-Villena, A.; Guillén, J.; Ruiz-del-Valle, V.; Lowy, E.; Zamora, J.; Varela, P.; Stefani, D. & Allende, L. M. (2001): Phylogeography of crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, and rosefinches. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 58(8): 1159–1166. PDF fulltext
Herremans, M. 1990. Taxonomy and evolution in Redpolls Carduelis flammea – hornemanni; a multivariate study of their biometry. Ardea 78(3): 441–458. HTML abstract
Knox, A. G. (1988): The taxonomy of redpolls. Ardea 76(1): 1–26.
Sangster, George; Knox, Alan G.; Helbig, Andreas J. & Parkin, David T. (2002): Taxonomic recommendations for European birds. Ibis 144(1): 153–159. doi:10.1046/j.0019-1019.2001.00026.x PDF fulltext
Seutin, G.; Ratcliffe, L. M. & Boag, P. T. (1995): Mitochondrial DNA homogeneity in the phenotypically diverse redpoll finch complex (Aves: Carduelinae: Carduelis flammea - hornemanni). Evolution 49(5): 962–973. doi:10.2307/2410418 (HTML abstract and first page image)

External links

Common Redpoll Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Common Redpoll - Carduelis flammea - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
Common Redpoll Information and Photos - South Dakota Birds and Birding

Knox, A. G., and P. E. Lowther. 2000. Hoary Redpoll (Carduelis hornemanni). In The Birds of North America, No. 544 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
Knox, A. G., and P. E. Lowther. 2000. Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea). In The Birds of North America, No. 543 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Categories: Birds of Canada | Carduelis | Birds of Europe

Common Redpoll

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Fringillidae
Genus:	Carduelis
Species:	C. flammea

Binomial name

Carduelis flammea
Linnaeus, (1758)

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The Common Redpoll, Carduelis flammea, is a species in the finch family. It breeds somewhat further south than the Arctic Redpoll, also in habitats with thickets or shrubs. Nominate C. f. flammea (Mealy Redpoll) breeds across the northern parts of North America and Eurasia. There is also an Icelandic subspecies, C. f. islandica, and one which breeds in Greenland and Baffin Island, C. f. rostrata (Greenland Redpoll). All forms migrate further south in winter into southern Canada, the northern USA and most of Eurasia. These birds are remarkably resistant to cold temperatures^[1] and winter movements are mainly driven by the availability of food. The common redpoll is smaller, browner and more streaked than the Arctic redpoll. There are two distinct populations (one lighter, one darker) united in islandica, the relationships of which are unresolved^[2].

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Mealy Redpoll

The Mealy Redpoll is larger and paler than the Lesser Redpoll with which it often mixes, apparently without significant interbreeding though sympatry was established too recently to draw firm conclusions.^[3]