My Most Exciting Bird Yet!

Today, my most exciting bird yet visited my back yard feeders. 3 common redpolls stopped by! OK - so their name says they are "common" but they aren't the most common thing here in Chicago! They're an "irruptive" species - birds who nest up north (as in, Canada) but come south in the winter when their food supplies are low. I've read that it's a bad year for nuts and seeds up north, which explains why I had a visit from 3 common redpolls "down south" here in Chicago!

Thanks to zach.millen on Flickr for the ID help. These birds weren't listed in my Chicago or Illinois field guides, and the giant Sibley guide takes me a while to dig through.

(My apologies for all of the exclamation points - I'm pretty excited!)