Earlier this week, I had a short bit of time and I decided to chase a report of a Common Redpoll right in my neighborhood. The report was a couple of days old, but I decided to give it a try. Redpolls are often hard to track down in Minneapolis - they are around every winter, but often aren't consistent in any one area that I know of. The last two winters a place in downtown Minneapolis has been pretty good for them (there is a place with a large concentration of birch trees and Redpolls love birches). However, I haven't heard of them being in that spot this winter, so I decided to look for them at this reported location close to my house.
I did find a few houses with good feeder setups and lots of birds. This area is really close to a big cemetery, so has the chance to provide a little more diversity of habitat than your average urban neighborhood. These are good feeders to know about for the rest of the winter and hoping to see other feeder species.
Long story short, there was no sign of the redpolls, but it is really close so I can try to hit that area more in the upcoming weeks. I did catch up to a Red-breasted Nuthatch, so that was a nice little bonus. Red-breasted Nuthatches are irrupting this year so there are many more of them than normal in Minneapolis, and it was nice to catch up with one early in the year so I don't have to worry about it later!
Miles Biked on this trip: 4.5
Miles biked year to date: 57.7
Species count: 29
My bike birding eBird profile:
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