The Rarest of the Rare Winter Finches, Fletcher Community Park, NC, December 10, 2020

The Fall and Winter 2020 seasons have been punctuated by irruptions of many species of northern finches.  Even as far south as here in NC!  First there were Red Crossbills nesting in white pines at lower elevations away from the higher NC mountains where they are more typically seen.  More recently there have been occasional flyover Crossbills passing over areas even farther from the mountains – I’ve been lucky enough to have one each in Polk (3rd county record) and Rutherford Counties (2nd county record).  Then came large numbers of Pine Siskins and Purple Finches, along with Red-breasted Nuthatches, pouring through the area.  Next were Evening Grosbeaks that came come through in very small numbers.  Once again luck was on my side when a pair of Grosbeaks flew over as I was doing a “Big Sit” in my yard in November. 

And finally, there is the rarest of this winter’s finches – Common Redpoll.  Early in the Fall there was a considerable Redpoll irruption in the northeast, which expanded to a few sightings in the Mid-Atlantic.  Could this northernmost of the finches make it all the way to the Carolinas?  The answer is a resounding “Yes”.  The first sighting of a Redpoll in NC came on 11/13 in the north-central part of the state.  And then there was another sighting on 11/20 in the northern NC mountains.  Just 50 miles away as the winter finch flies. 

That’s definitely one to keep an eye out for.  Or perhaps more importantly to keep an ear out for.  Redpolls have pretty characteristic calls, although they are similar to some of the calls of Siskins.  For the next several weeks my nearly daily birding efforts really focused on trying to find Redpolls.  I especially birded weedy fields that might attract finch flocks.  And then I looked in stands of birch trees and wetter smooth alder thickets.  This year both are loaded with catkins, and some seeds, which are favorite foods for Redpolls.  All the while keeping my ears open for an isolated flyover bird.  Not too surprisingly I didn’t come up with a Redpoll, or even a Siskin for that matter as it appears that most of this irrupter have already passed through.

Then on 12/10 I took a trip to the Fletcher Community Park which is part of my territory on the Henderson County Christmas Count.  The park has a nice diverse set of habitats, including woodlands, shrubby edge, and adjacent agricultural fields.  Plus one of the more unique birding spots is a small pond in the middle of the park that often hosts a surprising array of waterfowl.  The pond is surrounded by a thick stand of birch trees with smooth alder as an understory, making it quite difficult to see the waterfowl.  I’ve found the only way to try to get an accurate count of the ducks is to walk slowly around the entire circumference of the pond peering through to the water wherever there are gaps in the vegetation. 

On the 10th I was about half-way around the pond picking out good numbers of Hooded Mergansers when I heard a distinct dry “chit chit chit” call low overhead – I had my Redpoll!  It sounded as if I flushed it from the birch trees or alder thickets and it flew off toward the west.  Unfortunately it was a heard-only bird, despite efforts to re-find it in the vegetation off to the west.  I wasn’t at the park just to look for Redpolls, but in hindsight, the vegetation around the pond is about as perfect as you can get for these wayward finches.  So maybe it should have been my key target after all. 

Common Redpoll was #309 for my NC statelist, and a first eBird record for Henderson County.  NC was my 15th state for this species – 12 it in its regular range (the blue-shaded states in my statebird map below), and the 3 brown states where it’s a rarity.  I still need it in quite a number of northern tier states where it’s regular, albeit typically only in irruption years (the cross-hatched states).