Posted by Bob Lefebvre

One of the classes of pigments that produces colour in bird feathers is the carotenoids. It is responsible for bright yellow, red, or orange feathers. Carotenoids are produced by plants, and birds acquire them by eating plants or by eating something that has eaten a plant. A species that normally has red plumage can sometimes have either orange or yellow instead, depending on what the bird has been eating.

In Calgary, we are used to seeing male House Finches with predominantly red pigments, but it’s not too uncommon to see one with orange or yellow instead of red. However, of the thousands of Common Redpolls I’ve seen, I’ve never noticed one that didn’t have a red cap and (in males) a pinkish wash on the breast.

The bird below was photographed recently by Tony LePrieur. It has yellow where there would normally be red. Has anyone else ever seen a Redpoll like this? I imagine such colour variants must be quite a bit more rare in Redpolls than in House Finches, at least in our part of the country.

Update, February 7, 2016 – this redpoll, or one like it, has been seen again in the Weaselhead area. Another was seen in Lynnwood in SE Calgary. I have heard that redpolls with yellow like this may be older females.

Common Redpoll. Photo by Tony LePrieur.

Have you seen an unusual bird in the Calgary area? Send a photo to us at birdscalgary@gmail.com.