This is my first post of 2022! I hope everyone has been able to be safe and well. Like clockwork, the common redpolls returned to my yard on Christmas Eve, pretty much to the day that that showed up in 2020. Often confused with chipping sparrows or house finches, common redpolls spend most of the year in the artic and only come south during the winter months. In years of large migrations, they may winter as far south as Colorado but often don’t go that far. I feel pretty lucky to have these artic visitors come now for the past three winters.