Montana Field Guide

Common Redpolls are busy, acrobatic little finches, spending much of their time flitting about, feeding, and calling with their incessant calls. They are a very small finch, with typical conical, pointed bill; length 12-14 cm; mass 11-20 g. Adult male: crown bright red, chin and lores black; upperparts dark with grayish-brown feather centers and broad pale-whitish or buff-white edges in fresh plumage, wearing off through spring until summer, when upperparts become very dark; upperparts usually look streaked, especially when fresh; wings and tail blackish brown with pale whitish edgings, broad wing bars. Rump, cheeks and breast read or pink, color deepest during breeding season. Adult female: similar to male but generally darker and streakier, with little or no red in plumage except on crown. Plumage of both sexes much paler in winter (Knox and Lowther 2000).

For a comprehensive review of the conservation status, habitat use, and ecology of this and other Montana bird species, please see Marks et al. 2016, Birds of Montana.

See Czaplak (1995) for information on distinguishing Common and Hoary Redpolls in winter.

In Bozeman area, normal migration periods are November 1 to December 1 and March 1 to 25.

Breeding range: open subarctic, largely coniferous forest and scrub, on dry, rocky, or damp substrates; level or steeply sloped; avoids dense forest; occurs on tundra and above timberline only where shrubby deciduous and sometimes coniferous vegetation occurs in hollows and sheltered places. Spring and fall migration; winter range: open woodland and scrub, particularly of birch, alder, and willow; also among weeds, at field edges, and in towns and villages (Knox and Lowther 2000).

Very small seeds and other plant material throughout the year. Also arthropods, particularly in summer when feeding young (Knox and Lowther 2000).

Nests are built on loose foundation of small twigs laid across adjacent branches out from trunk of small spruce or in crotch of alder or willow. Built primarily by female. Eggs usually ovate. Color greenish white to pale blue and pale turquoise green; spotted. Clutch size is typically 4 to 6 eggs. Usually eggs and young present in the nest peak in late May and throughout June (Knox and Lowther 2000).