The man who always compiled the Winter Finch Forecast retired this year and someone is taking over for him and trying to quickly get up to speed, so right now I have no idea what kind of seed crop year they had in Canada. That usually dictates what kind of additional bird species (and how many) we see in Wisconsin over winter.
People all over Wisconsin have been reporting ridiculous numbers of ravenous Pine Siskins in their yards already (it’s a bit early for that). I’ve only seen one so far, but the fact that I’ve also seen a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches leads me to believe it wasn’t a good tree seed year in Canada. That’s okay with me. Red-breasted Nuthatches are one of my favorite feeder visitors.
The first couple of Dark-eyed Juncos arrived on the 4th (pretty much on schedule). Other than that, the largest number of birds at my feeders right now are goldfinches sporting their new fall/winter plumages.
