Redpolls

It has been pretty dark and grey here for the last couple of weeks but Saturday was a lot brighter so I went out birding for a few hours in the hope of seeing the 4th year White-tailed Eagle that has been wintering in the Klydesoen area (very close to my normal patch of Kongelunden on Amager). There was no sign of the eagle but I did catch up with a small party of Redpolls. These are superb little birds and across Europe there are three races that are found. The most common in the UK is the Lesser Redpoll that usually has a dull-brown plumage with off-white wingbars. In Scandinavia the most common race is the Common Redpoll (sometimes referred to as "Mealy Redpoll". By far the rarest is the Arctic Redpoll which, as its name suggests, breeds in Arctic Fenno-Scandinavia and Russia. The Arctic Redpoll has a much whiter plumage with a pure white rump, unstreaked white undertail coverts and a general "frosty" appearance.

The birds I saw yesterday (photos above) are of Common or "Mealy" Redpoll.