Acanthis flammea
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The redpoll (Acanthis flammea) is a species of small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only species placed in the genus Acanthis. It breeds in the Arctic and north temperate Holarctic tundra and taiga. The redpoll was formerly widely treated as three species: the common or mealy redpoll, the arctic or hoary redpoll (A. hornemanni), and the lesser redpoll (A. cabaret).
The redpoll was listed in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla flammea. The specific epithet flammea is Latin meaning "flame-coloured". Linnaeus also described the redpoll as Fringilla linaria on the same page, but the earlier name flammea has priority.
The redpoll was previously placed in the genus Carduelis. Molecular phylogenetic studies showed that it formed a distinct lineage, so it was moved to the resurrected genus Acanthis that had been introduced in 1797 by the German naturalist Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen. The genus name Acanthis is from Ancient Greek akanthis, a name for a small now-unidentifiable bird.
Five subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 4 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | Minsk | 🇧🇾 Belarus | |
| 6 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 7 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 8 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Kazan | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 10 | Stockholm | 🇸🇪 Sweden |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoopark Limpopo | 🇷🇺 Russia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Redpoll sighting in Helsinki on a given day, based on 562 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 98th most-seen of the 233 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December to February
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Common Redpoll in Helsinki on a given day, against under 5% in April to September, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Redpoll sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 34
Of the 34 cities where we can rate Common Redpoll sightings, Helsinki ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Anchorage (United States, about 20%), Novosibirsk (Russia, about 20%) and Yekaterinburg (Russia, about 10%).
Same family: Fringillidae
The closest relatives of the Common Redpoll that you can see in Helsinki (family Fringillidae, Finches, Euphonias, and Allies) are Chaffinch (about 50%), European Greenfinch (about 40%) and Eurasian Goldfinch (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Redpoll is recorded against all the birds logged in Helsinki (562 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
