Category Archives: Garden

Redpoll or Arctic Redpoll

Redpolls vary both in size and in shade of brown. The Icelandic variety is the palest and has whiter wing bars and less streaked underparts than others.

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Today I saw two unusually white Redpolls which resemble the  Arctic Redpoll a lot. They are probably just ordinary Redpolls but quite unlike the normal Icelandic  Redpoll. This is one of the whiter ones

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and this is the other one. Below is a normal Icelandic Redpoll.

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Common Crossbill

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Common Crossbills are new breeding birds in Iceland.  New spruce and pine forests are growing fast in many places in Iceland and are now big enough to be a habitat for some new settlers like the Crossbills.
They are regular birds in my garden and I feed them on sunflower seeds. This pair was in a group of seven Crossbills coming to the feeding place this beautiful Sunday morning.

The most common garden bird

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In former times Redpolls could only be found in birch forests in North Iceland. In the sixties they started to breed in South Iceland and are now among the most common breeding birds in woods and gardens.  Around 50-70 Redpolls visit the feeder in my garden every day.

Redpolls are my favourites because they are very active, charming and have a great diversity in colour and appearance.

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