Common Redpolls Using Spruce Seeds in Northern Utah

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

The Wilson Bulletin

Publication Date

1979

Volume

91

Issue

4

Abstract

During winter in the United States and southern Canada, the Common Redpoll (Carduelis /lammea) generally is considered a bird of open woodlands, weed patches, fields, and brushy fence rows, where it feeds mainly on birch (Betula) and alder (Alnus) seeds (Godfrey, The Birds of Canada, Nat. Mus. Bull. No. 203, 1966). Thus, in a mixed flock with 30 White-winged Crossbills (Loxia leucoptera) and several Pine Siskins (Carduelis pinus) on 30 November 1977, 26 km east of Preston, Franklin Co., Idaho, I was surprised to see 25 Common Redpolls feeding on cones at the top of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii). At 13:00 on 7 December 1977, I found 25 Common Redpolls and 25 Pine Siskins feeding on spruce cones in the Bear River Mountains (elev. = 2500 m), Cache Co., 18 km west of Laketown, Utah. I collected 2 males and 1 female from this flock. Previously, only 3 specimens of redpolls had been collected in Utah, but sight records have increased in recent years (Hayward et a!., Birds of Utah, Great Basin Nat. Mem. 1, 1976). Several other mixed flocks containing 20-50 redpolls were seen that day.

Comments

Originally published by the Wilson Ornithological Society. Publisher's PDF available through remote link via the Searchable Ornithological Research Archive (SORA). Must click on corresponding publication.
Note: This article appeared in the Wilson Bulletin (now the Wilson Journal of Ornithology).

First Page

621

Last Page

623

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