Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 16
Redpoll
Chester A. Reed, Bird Guide, 1906
Bird

Redpoll

Acanthis flammea
Finches, Euphonias, and Allies (Fringillidae)
In for the season
Winter visitor. Expected here roughly Jan to Jan. In for the season: expectation was 11% a month ago, 50% now.
Field marks
A small streaky finch with a neat red cap, a tiny yellow bill and a black chin patch, usually in a restless flock working alder catkins like a committee that has had too much coffee.
Male & female
Males wear a rosy wash on the breast; females and young birds are streaked brown and white with the red cap but no pink.
Voice
A dry rattling 'chet-chet-chet' in flight and a rising, buzzy 'zweee'.
Diet
Tiny seeds, mostly alder and birch. A flock can strip a catkin the way a crowd empties a bowl of chips.
Habitat
Breeds in the far north; reaches western Washington only in winter, and not every winter.
Nesting
Low in shrubs and small trees in the boreal forest and tundra edge, roughly 1,500 miles north of the creek.
Size
4½–5½ in long, about half an ounce: three pennies with feathers, or one very disappointing teabag.

An 'irruptive' finch. When the northern seed crop fails, Redpolls pour south in a body, so a flock at the creek is news from the Arctic that arrived under its own power.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 8 calls on 3 days, first Oct 29, last Oct 31

1200:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 1 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 0 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 1 calls09:00 — 0 calls910:00 — 0 calls11:00 — 0 calls12:00 — 1 calls1213:00 — 1 calls14:00 — 0 calls15:00 — 2 calls1516:00 — 2 calls17:00 — 0 calls18:00 — 0 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
24Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 2 callsOct 30 — 2 callsOct 31 — 4 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 31 3:32 pm · 97% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 3:42 pm · 93% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

The redpoll is a species of small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only species placed in the genus Acanthis. It breeds in the Arctic and north temperate Holarctic tundra and taiga. The redpoll was formerly widely treated as three species: the common or mealy redpoll, the arctic or hoary redpoll, and the lesser redpoll.
From Wikipedia, "Redpoll", CC BY-SA 4.0.