The winter of 2011-12 was just plain awful for birdwatching. The warm temperatures and lack of snow were probably to blame. The birds were able to find easy food elsewhere.
The bright spot (literally!) was a flock of about a dozen cardinals that hung out in the neighborhood all winter long and added a little flair to the otherwise dreary landscape.
So far this fall my feeders have been full of birds. I’ve had to refill some of the thistle feeders every other day because there are so many goldfinches. And the other feeders are full of woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, cardinals, finches and Blue Jays. It appears that even some of the Red-breasted Nuthatches have irrupted to our area and may stay for the winter.
NOAA just released the winter precipitation outlooks, and southern Wisconsin is supposed to get below-average snowfall once again. It certainly won’t help our severe drought situation, and it will be interesting to see if the birds decide to stick around this time, or if they’ll once again disappear until spring.