Redpoll

Acanthis flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Redpoll, Acanthis flammea, is a finch of the Palearctic and North America, breeding from the low Arctic into northern temperate tundra and taiga, and also in birch and larch woods across parts of western and central western Europe. It is a bird of northern forests and open woodland, with a range that reaches Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, Russia, Alaska and Canada. In winter it moves south in irruptive fashion. It is a small brownish-grey finch with dark streaking, a red forehead patch, a black bib and two pale wing bars. Males often show red on the breast.

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Fringillidae — Finches, Euphonias

Breeding range

Palearctic, North America: low (locally high) Arctic to n temperate Holarctic tundra and taiga: sw, se Greenland, Iceland, n Scandinavia e through n Russia to Chukotskiy Pen., Kamchatka and Sakhalin (e Russia). Also temperate w, wc Palearctic lowland (montane in s) birch and larch woods: British Isles, sw Scandinavia e to n Germany and s Poland; s to se France, Austria and Czech Republic

Nonbreeding range

irruptively southward