Yesterday morning, while I was watching the birds at my feeders for the for the GBBC which had just started, I counted 42 Common Redpolls and two Hoary Redpolls. That’s the most birds I’ve seen at my feeders all year!
After a while I noticed what looked like a redpoll lying on its side. It was snowing moderately so it was hard to it see clearly.
After coming back from doing farm chores I went out to inspect, since I had to refill the feeders anyway.
This is what I found,
I’m not quite sure what happened to this redpoll. I don’t think it hit any of the windows, because it was a good 12 feet from the windows and any bird strikes usually fall within a few feet of the house. There are no cats or other predators around our yard, my feeders were all cleaned a week ago, and all of the birds until yesterday looked in fine condition.
But on Thursday, with a low of only -7 Celsius, we had blizzard conditions — snow and very strong winds, with whiteouts. It might have all been too much for this redpoll or something entirely different. I guess I’ll never know.
