With the Blizzard came ...

I was preparing another Little Brown Job exercise this morning, when a grandson came up the stairs to tell me there were lots of birds at the feeders. Indeed there were!!!

Common Redpolls arrived with the blizzard in numbers I have not seen in almost four years. The flock numbers at least 50 birds.

A few days ago I extended the actual count of Evening Grosbeaks to 63. The flock feeding this morning could not be counted, but was 100+.

Early this morning, I swept 12 inches of snow off the platform feeder, shoveled the snow from the back porch and scattered seed there, and filled all the feeders. Soon after, the birds arrived ...

10 Common Redpolls (and one Dark-eyed Junco)

An additional 12 redpolls - still a small part of total flock, & only 1/3 of those feeding on porch

6 Redpolls feeding with 3 Evening Grosbeaks & 1 junco

Redpolls lining up on the bulk feeders

17 Evening Grosbeaks beneath bulk feeder

Red-bellied Woodpecker reluctantly shares feeder with Evening Grosbeak

I wish I could answer the inquiries as to why I have so many Evening Grosbeaks. Probably because I provide plenty of seed all year, and there are nesting pairs which feed their young here. Then add in the grosbeak communication network, and the result seems to be that most of southern Vermont's wintering Evening Grosbeaks are in my yard (judging from the lack of reports from elsewhere).

More blizzard/bird images soon.