Figure 447. Distribution of 73 Common Redpolls accepted through 2003. Substantial flocks have been documented in Lassen County (16 birds in 1899) and northeastern Siskiyou County (24 and 30 birds in winter 1985/1986), in addition to three records of lone individuals (see also Appendix H). The state’s only coastal record, and only record later than 2 March, pertains to a male collected on 22 May 1969 at Manila, Humboldt County.

 

Figure 448. Common Redpolls are notorious for irregularly staging southward invasions. The species has reached California in only five winters since 1899, including flocks in 1899 and in 1985/1986 (see also Appendix H). This bird, photographed on 31 December 1985, was part of a flock at Tule Lake NWR, Siskiyou County (1986-008; Louis R. Bevier).

 

 

 

 

 

COMMON REDPOLL Carduelis flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Accepted: 73 (86%)	Treated in Appendix H: yes
Not accepted: 12	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 25	Color image: none

This dainty finch, recently separated from the Lesser Redpoll (C. cabaret) of central Europe and the British Isles (Knox et al. 2001, Banks et al. 2002), has a circumpolar distribution. In the nearctic, the northern breeding limit extends from northwestern Alaska east to Baffin Island and northern Labrador. The southern limit stretches from southern Alaska and northwestern British Columbia east to southern James Bay and Newfoundland. The southern limit of the core winter range extends from southern Alaska and the southern Northwest Territories southeastward through eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and most of Wyoming, and from there east to New England. Numbers peregrinate farther south during certain winters and with some regularity reach northeastern Oregon in the West, central Kansas in the interior, and Virginia in the East. The species occurs casually to accidentally, mostly during fall and winter, in Hawaii, in North America south to northern California, Nevada, southernmost Texas (Lockwood and Freeman 2004), and the Southeast, and in Bermuda.

The Common Redpoll was unknown in California until November and December of 1899, when flocks appeared around Eagle Lake in Lassen County (Willard 1902). Willard reported collecting 40 between 30 November and 23 December 1899, although his 16 extant specimens (ten males and six females) at CAS and MVZ have dates ranging from 11 November to 13 December 1899. A male reportedly collected in nearby Plumas County on 23 December 1899 may also have been Willard’s, but the collector is unspecified and the provenance of the specimen cannot be established. In 1985/1986, large numbers pushed far south again, and flocks of 24 and 30 Common Redpolls reached Siskiyou County’s Tule Lake NWR and Lower Klamath NWR. A bird at the latter location on 2 March 1986 furnished the state’s latest winter record. Another incursion in fall 1991 yielded another Tule Lake record. The species’ most recent southward push, during winter 2001/2002, produced the record of a single bird in Anderson, Shasta County. See also Appendix H.

A male Common Redpoll collected on 22 May 1969 at Manila, Humboldt County, generated initial concern about the specimen’s provenance, as the date seemed remarkably late for anywhere south of Canada. Supporting its legitimacy, however, are several recent records: two at different locations in northeastern Oregon on 24 May 1996; two photographed on 11 July 2002 at a feeder in southwestern Oregon (NAB 56:480); a 21 May 2000 specimen from southern Nevada (NAB 54:309); and individuals photographed in southern Texas during the periods of 28–30 May 2002 and 18–19 June 2002 (Lockwood and Freeman 2004).

 

[EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH Carduelis carduelis (Linnaeus, 1758) – see hypothetical section]

[ORIENTAL GREENFINCH Carduelis sinica (Linnaeus, 1766) – see Supplemental List]

[EURASIAN TREE SPARROW Passer montanus (Linnaeus, 1758) – see hypothetical section]