The excitement this week at the bird feeders has centered around a common redpoll and a couple of Oregon juncos that have been dining on sunflower seed.

Phil Schwab, who birds at Severson Dells regularly as part of Cornell University’s Project FeederWatch, logged the redpoll Dec. 26. He firstredpoll1.gif reported the Oregon junco last week.

Both birds were spotted again on Dec. 27.

The common redpoll is an unusual visitor to this area. A range map in the National Geographic’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America indicates that the bird breeds and winters near tundra regions of the continent and is an irregular visitor to the Midwest, rarely straying as far south as Northern Illinois.

Dark-eyed juncos are common around here in winter. But the Oregon junco, a variant, is normally bird of the Great Plains or the West. It resembles the northern or slate-colored junco, but the male’s back back is lighter and it has buffy feathers on its sides. The female’s head is grayer and the back more rusty colored.

See pictures of the Oregon junco