Comments on: Finch Invasion Year?

By: Birdfreak Day! Our 3rd Anniversary!

Birdfreak Day! Our 3rd Anniversary! — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:59:12 +0000

[...] February 2009 A backyard Red-tailed Hawk reminded us of an important bird observation lesson We provided a simple yet effective digiscoping tip We had a lot of luck with seeing and photographing winter finches [...]

By: John Hamer

John Hamer — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:25:01 +0000

We had huge numbers of redpolls here in the Twin Cities. I had 50 to 60 consistently along with some pine siskins. I was seeing pine siskins up till just recently. I think a pair stayed and reproduced. I have two friends with huge feeder capacity that had flocks of 500 each.

John Hamer

By: The Birdfreak Team

The Birdfreak Team — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:58:39 +0000

Brown-headed Cowbirds are pretty widespread throughout the country so yes, they are in upstate New York. You can see a range map and more info about them here: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Brown-headed_Cowbird.html

By: Fingerlakes Birdgeek

Fingerlakes Birdgeek — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:44:54 +0000

I just had a brownheaded cowbird in my back yard and have never seen one. Is this bird common in the Fingerlakes Region of Upstate NY?

By: I And The Bird A Connection Between Human Beings And Nature | The Birders Report

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:46:01 +0000

[...] Eddie Callaway over at Birdfreak is asking, is this a finch invasion year? He not only has Pine Siskins but Common Redpolls and [...]

By: The Zen Birdfeeder

The Zen Birdfeeder — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:31:16 +0000

From eastern upstate New York, the Pine Siskins are here in large numbers. We’ve not heard such widespread and numerous reports of siskins before.

By: Jeanette

Jeanette — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:20:30 +0000

Here in New York I have had lots if pine siskins this winter at the thistle seed feeder.

By: Larry Jordan

Larry Jordan — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:20:03 +0000

Great captures of the Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls Eddie! We are having a bumper crop here in Northern California too. And the White-winged Crossbill is quite the bonus.

I totally concur with the randomness of birding. It makes it even more interesting and challenging!

By: The Birdfreak Team

The Birdfreak Team — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:12:21 +0000

Wisconsin Birdwatcher – Evening Grosbeaks are very high on the wish list right now… can’t wait to see one!!

Heather – I was amazed at how similar looking the redpolls are to Pine Siskins… at least from the back view. But this is the first year they’ve been at our feeders in abundance.

Lana – sweet! They seem to be everywhere!!

Mon@rch – glad to share. Gotta love how random birding can be! Sure makes it loads of fun.

MrBrownThumb – thank you very much! Chicago-area has some pretty good birding spots but yes, in the city there is an overabundance of pigeons but they do attract Peregrine Falcons. Once you find a good place for birds, it is amazing at how many

By: MrBrownThumb

MrBrownThumb — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:59:53 +0000

I don’t know anything about birds and most of the birds I see on the west side of Chicago are pigeons so your blog is an eye opener. Nice work with the camera.

By: mon@rch

mon@rch — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:30:59 +0000

This has been an interesting year with the winter birdies! Thanks for sharing and love those photos!

By: Lana

Lana — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:07:01 +0000

The other day was the 1st time I ever saw pine siskins at our feeders, too.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:51:13 +0000

I can attest to the finch irruption. We’ve had Pine Siskins at our feeders here in southeast Ohio for the very first time this year. I’m waiting for some Redpolls to make their way over to our feeders, too, but it hasn’t happened yet.

By: Wisconsin Birdwatcher

Wisconsin Birdwatcher — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:32:00 +0000

I will never forget the winter of 1987-88. We had dozens of Evening Grosbeaks lined up across the length our our deck in Lk. Tomahawk, WI and could barely keep up with feeding black oil sunflower seeds. I haven’t seen one since!