Two days ago, we had at least 30 Common Redpolls spend the day at our feeders and yesterday, we had over 50. I tried counting them a few times, but every time I got up to around 50, they'd all rearrange themselves!
It was fun watching them as they fought for feeding positions on the 3 thistle socks and tube feeder. Some foraged on the ground under the feeders, and others attacked the other feeders with the sunflower seeds. There was lots of competition for prime feeding spots. Today, I topped off the thistle socks and spread a little on the ground to give a little more opportunity to the less aggressive.
Every once in awhile yesterday, I picked up my camera and grabbed a few photos. I felt it was a day worth documenting! Hopefully, you'll enjoy these last photos of the redpolls before they head back north.
I also saw 2 Song Sparrows under the feeders in the back in the morning. I heard there was a big fallout that included Song Sparrows the other night; they're back! After mis-identifying the Song Sparrow at
Forest Lawn Cemetery the other day, I took my time and studied the differences between Fox Sparrows and Song Sparrows carefully. Some of the differences my Peterson's field guide points out is that the Fox Sparrow would have a more red-brown coloring (in the Eastern US), their streaks would be more triangular shaped, and over the bill, there would most likely be some white coloring. Now, I'm pretty sure I'll know a Fox Sparrow when I see one, I'll be THRILLED when I see one, but I'll be slow to claim it until I verify these identifiers!