Common Redpolls

Some winters these small birds show up in Michigan but not always. They breed up around Hudson Bay. They are usually seen in flocks of a dozen or more. I didn't see any last year. But, I did see them several times this year while walking the Stu Visser trail, always busily working high up in the alder trees, which have fruit that persist on the trees all winter and look exactly like little pine cones 3/4 of an inch long. The trail has hundreds of these trees lining the wet places.

I was walking on Thursday and heard the now familiar buzzy commotiony sound they make as a flock and saw them in the trees along Pine Creek. I stood and watched, getting good looks in the eastern light.

I then realized they were down dropping to the ice that still covered part of the creek and were munching up little black dots on the ice that were probably tree litter and apparently tasted good to the birds. So I got even better looks at them. They are small and streaky but with a black chin, a nice blush on the breast and, in good light, a beautiful small deep-rose cap.

I rarely walk that trail without some small or large pleasure, like seeing the redpolls on the ice, edging closer and closer, until suddenly they flew away en masse, spooked by something.

A bit later, on the big pond, I saw my first pair of wood ducks for the year. Dave VH had seen many in the Kalamazoo river the previous day as he was out putting up and cleaning out wood duck houses, so I knew they had arrived back in Michigan. The plumage of the males is complex and stunning; the more drab females have a distinctive large teardrop-shaped whitish eye patch.