Redpolls at Ashbridge’s Bay

As  you can see from the blue sky in the picture above, I didn’t take this photo this weekend. No, I’m cheating a bit, going backward in time — slightly more than a week ago, in fact — when a day that held the promise of spring lured me from my winter lair.

I thought I would head out along the Ashbridge’s Bay boardwalk (when are they, whoever that is, going to fix our boardwalk? an item for another day, perhaps?) to see if I could get a glimpse of our swans, and to see what new ducks, if any, were about.

Saw plenty of ducks, the photos of which I posted over the past week.

But a chance encounter with a fellow birder along the path made my day. After a pleasant greeting, she asked me if I had seen the redpolls that were out at the end of the peanut. Very high up in the trees, she said.

Well, I’ve seen redpolls at the bay before, but never got a photo of any. So I was off quickly to check my luck.

There were, indeed, lots of redpolls (Carduelis flammea) in the copse of tamaracks (Larix laracina) at the end of the path, the larches looking a little faded and skeletal without their golden autumn needles.

The redpolls, though. Oh my! Such energy and colour. Flitting and flashing throughout the tamarack branches, they were hard to zero in on with my long lens. I managed to get a couple of peek-a-boo shots, though, as you can see above.

I was mesmerized by the acrobatic manoeuvres of these adorable, seed-eating finches. Upside-down, sideways around. You’d think they’d all graduated from the Cirque du Soleil.

It turned out that I didn’t get quite as clear a shot of the male redpoll, but am posting it anyway so that others can enjoy his beautiful colouration. So handsome with his scarlet hat and bib.

When I went back to our park a few days later, I saw no sign of the redpolls. So my sincere thanks to my friend on the path for alerting me to their presence that afternoon. Birders looking out for fellow birders. I’ll pass the favour on.

See you on the trail.

© BCP 2011