'Polling place

I went to Montrose Point this morning with a very specific goal. There had been reports this week of common redpolls in the dune area. Redpolls are small finches of boreal and taiga regions that occasionally make it south to places like Illinois. To put it in perspective, just two redpolls were seen in all of Illinois during last year's Christmas Bird Count.

I was in the dune area just after dawn. I made one circuit through the dunes and then stood sentry on the fishhook pier overlooking the site. A couple other birders walked below and then circled toward the beach. Eventually, they flushed two sparrow-sized birds. The birds flew right at me, fluttered upward about 20 feet over my head and landed beside a big puddle about 20 yards away. Sure enough, two common redpolls, even more stunning in person than in a bird guide. These red-capped, rose-tinged birds would look great on someone's Christmas cards. Another new one for the life list.

Early reports indicate this could be a good year for irruptions of winter finches. There was an amazing flock of american goldfinches (goldfinches are not winter finches, fyi) feeding in the central meadow at Montrose this morning. There was an unusual song mixed in with the goldfinches, and it turned out it was a winter finch: a purple finch (I confirmed this through a recording on All About Birds when I got home). There were just 97 purple finches seen in Illinois' CBC last year.

All told, 25 species this morning, which is pretty good for this time of year at Montrose.