Redpoll | |
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Male, Quebec Canada | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Fringillidae |
Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
Genus: | Acanthis Borkhausen, 1797 |
Species: | A. flammea |
Binomial name | |
Acanthis flammea | |
Range Breeding Year-round Nonbreeding |
The redpoll (Acanthis flammea) 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 (A. hornemanni), and the lesser redpoll (A. cabaret).
The redpoll was listed in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla flammea. [2] [3] The specific epithet flammea is Latin meaning "flame-coloured". [4] Linnaeus also described the redpoll as Fringilla linaria on the same page, but the earlier name flammea has priority. [2] [5] [6]
The redpoll was previously placed in the genus Carduelis . Molecular phylogenetic studies showed that it formed a distinct lineage, so it was moved to the resurrected genus Acanthis that had been introduced in 1797 by the German naturalist Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen. [7] [8] [9] The genus name Acanthis is from Ancient Greek akanthis, a name for a small now-unidentifiable bird. [10]
Five subspecies are recognised: [9]
The redpoll was formerly regarded as three separate species: the common redpoll with subspecies flammea and rostrata, the lesser redpoll with subspecies cabaret and the arctic redpoll with subspecies hornemanni and exilipes. The three species are now considered as conspecific based on the small genetic differences and the continuous phenotypic variation. [9] [11] [12]
The redpoll is a small brownish-grey finch with dark streaks and a bright red patch on its forehead. It has a black bib and two pale stripes on the wings. Males often have their breasts suffused with red. It is smaller, browner and more streaked than the generally similar Arctic redpoll, adults measuring between 11.5 and 14 centimetres (4.5 and 5.5 in) in length and weighing between 12 and 16 grams (0.42 and 0.56 oz). Wingspan ranges from 7.5 to 8.7 in (19–22 cm). [13] The rump is streaked and there is a broad dark brown streak across the vent. It has brown legs, dark-tipped yellowish bills and dark brown irises. [14]
The range of the redpoll extends through northern Europe and Asia to northern North America, Greenland and Iceland. It is a partial migrant, moving southward in late autumn and northward again in March and April. Its typical habitat is boreal forests of pines, spruces and larches. It feeds mainly on seeds, principally birch and alder seeds in the winter. [14]
Redpolls, subspecies A. f. cabaret, were introduced into New Zealand between 1862 and 1875. They are now found throughout both the North and South Islands as well as on many outlying islands. [15] [16]
The redpoll first breed when they are one year old. The female builds the nest, accompanied by the male, often low down in a tree or bush. It has an outer layer of thin twigs, a middle layer of root fibres, fragments of juniper bark and lichens and an inner layer of down, wool and hair. Three to seven speckled eggs are laid. The eggs are 16.9 mm × 12.6 mm (0.67 in × 0.50 in) with a calculted weight of 1.4 g (0.049 oz). They are incubated by the female and hatch after about 11 days. The young are cared for by both parents but are brooded only by the female. The chicks fledge when aged around 13 days. Generally two broods are raised each year. [17]
The diet is mostly very small seeds, especial those from birch trees ( Betula ). In the breeding season some invertebrates are also eaten. It forages mainly in trees but will occasinally forage on the ground. [18]
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usually resident and do not migrate. They have a worldwide native distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. The family Fringillidae contains more than two hundred species divided into fifty genera. It includes the canaries, siskins, redpolls, serins, grosbeaks and euphonias, as well as the morphologically divergent Hawaiian honeycreepers.
The American goldfinch is a small North American bird in the finch family. It is migratory, ranging from mid-Alberta to North Carolina during the breeding season, and from just south of the Canada–United States border to Mexico during the winter.
The northern wheatear or wheatear is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It is the most widespread member of the wheatear genus Oenanthe in Europe and North and Central Asia.
The European goldfinch or simply the goldfinch is a small passerine bird in the finch family that is native to Europe, North Africa and western and central Asia. It has been introduced to other areas, including Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay and the United States.
The genus Carduelis is a group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae.
The dunlin is a small wader in the genus Calidris. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from dun, "dull brown", with the suffix -ling, meaning a person or thing with the given quality.
The Lapland longspur, also known as the Lapland bunting, is a passerine bird in the longspur family Calcariidae, a group separated by most modern authors from the Fringillidae.
The brambling is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It has also been called the cock o' the north and the mountain finch. It is widespread and migratory, often seen in very large flocks.
The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
The twite is a small brown passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is a partially migratory species that is found in northern Europe and across the Palearctic to China. It mainly feeds on small seeds but occasionally also feeds on insects.
The common linnet is a small passerine bird of the finch family, Fringillidae. It derives its common name and the scientific name, Linaria, from its fondness for hemp seeds and flax seeds—flax being the English name of the plant from which linen is made.
The Eurasian siskin is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is also called the European siskin, common siskin or just siskin. Other (archaic) names include black-headed goldfinch, barley bird and aberdevine. It is very common throughout Europe and Eurosiberia. It is found in forested areas, both coniferous and mixed woodland where it feeds on seeds of all kinds, especially of alder and conifers.
The purple finch is a bird in the finch family, Fringillidae. It breeds in the northern United States, southern Canada, and the west coast of North America.
The pine siskin is a North American bird in the finch family. It is a migratory bird with an extremely sporadic winter range.
The rock sparrow or rock petronia is a small passerine bird in the sparrow family Passeridae. It is the only member of the genus Petronia. It breeds on barren rocky hills from the Iberian Peninsula and western north Africa across southern Europe and through the Palearctic Siberia and north and central China. It is largely resident in the west of its range, but Asian birds migrate to more southerly areas, or move down the mountains.
The vesper sparrow is a medium-sized New World sparrow. The only member of the genus Pooecetes, it is a pale sparrow with brown streaks that breeds across the grasslands of northern North America. It migrates to winter in the southern United States and Mexico.
The Oriental greenfinch, also known as the grey-capped greenfinch, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae that breeds in broadleaf and conifer woodlands of the East Palearctic.
The saffron finch is a tanager from South America that is common in open and semi-open areas in lowlands outside the Amazon Basin. They have a wide distribution in Colombia, northern Venezuela, western Ecuador, western Peru, eastern and southern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, northern Argentina, and Trinidad and Tobago. It has also been introduced to Hawaii, Panama, Puerto Rico and elsewhere. Although commonly regarded as a canary, it is not related to the Atlantic canary. Formerly, it was placed in the Emberizidae but it is close to the seedeaters.
The British finches are made up of several species of finch which were formerly very popular as cage birds in Great Britain. They are not currently commonplace, but are still kept by a few dedicated fanciers.
Carl Peter Holbøll (1795–1856) was an officer in the Danish Royal Navy, Greenland colonial officer and explorer of the Greenlandic fauna.