Redpoll
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Mealy Redpoll
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Carduelis flammea |
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 (Arnaiz-Villena et al., 2001). These would have to be included in the genus Carduelis, but 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:
Arctic Redpoll, Carduelis hornemanni, breeds in tundra birch forest. It has two races, C. h. hornemanni, (Greenland Arctic Redpoll) of Greenland and neighbouring parts of Canada, and C. h. exilipes, which breeds in the tundra of northern North America, where it is known as the Hoary Redpoll, and Eurasia. Many birds remain in the far north; some birds migrate short distances south in winter, sometimes travelling with Common Redpolls.
The Greenland race is a very large and pale bird, with the male sometimes described as a "snowball", but both forms are pale with small beaks, white rumps and often more yellow than grey-brown tones in their plumage. The females are more streaked on their breasts, sides and rumps, but are still pale.
Common Redpoll, Carduelis flammea, breeds somewhat further south than 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 race, C. f. islandica, and a race which breeds in Greenland and Baffin Island, C. f. rostrata. All forms migrate further south in winter into southern Canada, northern USA and most of Eurasia. These birds are remarkably resistant to cold temperatures and winter movements are mainly driven by the availability of food. Common Redpoll is smaller, browner and more streaked than Arctic.
Lesser Redpoll, Carduelis cabaret, is the smallest, brownest and most streaked species. It breeds in Ireland, Great Britain and neighbouring parts of Europe up to Norway, and the Alps. Many birds migrate further south in winter, but the milder climate means that this redpoll can be found all year round in much of its range, and may be joined by the other two species in winter. This species has been introduced to New Zealand. It co-occurs with the Mealy Redpoll in southern Norway, apparently without significant interbreeding though sympatry was established too recently to draw firm conclusions (Sangster et al., 2002).
[edit] References
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- 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)
