Yesterday morning the presence of White-crowned Sparrows (along with White-throated Sparrows), evidenced the arrival of the northern forest birds.
The morning activity indicated a fallout after a night flight. The birds were in a feeding frenzy. The sparrows were present in modest numbers, but the Pine Siskins were present in the hundreds. Goldfinches were mixed in the flock as were Purple Finches.
The photos below are just a hint of the numbers. The bulk feeder hanging from the eave was lined with siskins and the ground underneath was a moving mass of birds.
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| Pine Siskins on the thistle feeder |
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| Siskins and other finches empty the window feeder in a couple of hours |
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| A single Purple Finch (center foreground) vies with the siskins on the platform feeder |
The downside of the finch horde is that the feeders are emptied in a day. As the falling leaves swirl in the wind, the birds are rushing into winter survival mode. It makes for good birding!
2 comments:
Great pictures and hope some are headed my way. Everyone in my area is getting them except me. Nice birds but they do eat you out of house and home!
Nice shots Chris - I am having a lesser amount, but having to fill my feeders almost every other day with a lot of seed - siskins and purple finches mostly
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