Purple Finches are on the move! Had one at my feeders!

Purple Finch

Purple Finch

Cooper's Hawk

Happiness is...Hello Purple Finch for day two. Glad you stopped by and helped yourself to the hulled sunflower. You must have read the Winter Finch Forecast 2026-27...just be careful of the Cooper's Hawk that sat for half and hour yesterday near the feeders!

"Given the spruce budworm outbreaks to the north across eastern Canada, and perceived uptick in population numbers of this species since the outbreaks began 10 years ago, are we now in a period where annual flights will be more common again? Maybe! There were back-to-back flights of Purple Finches in the east the last two years; 2024-25 was a moderate flight, and last year 2025-26 was a small to moderate flight.

Many Purple Finches will move into the areas of eastern Canada, the Great Lakes, and the northeastern United States this winter to take advantage of the good spruce and great eastern white pine and mountain-ash crops. Whenever these areas have good food crops, birds stay more to the north. Will we see another flight year to the Mid-Atlantic and southern states? If one does materialize, we suspect it will be a late-developing small flight at best due to abundant resources in the northeastern forests."

Celebrating the Blue!!!!

 

Indigo Bunting

Blue Grosbeak

Eastern Bluebird

Blue Jay

Celebrating the Blue Wave with Birds that are Blue!

Beauty in the Fall Garden

 On the garden at eh farm, below freezing whites the fields, last glories of special trees keeps the fire burning.

Beauty of Red-bellied Woodpecker!

You can chase rarities and get a dopamine fix, but sometimes you just have to ooh and ahh at the beauty of birds at your feeders. I was just watching a male red-bellied at my feeders and struck by his beauty as the sun lit up the redness. I remember a time here in MA when this species was considered rare.
 

WILD GOOSE CHASE- BARNACLE, CACKLING, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE!

 

Barnacle Goose

                                                       Cackling Geese

                                         Greater White-Fronted Goose

Wild goose chase trifecta! Over the last two days I have seen 3 species of rare geese: Barnacle Goose, Cackling Goose and Greater White-fronted Goose, always exciting for birders. This is the time of year rare geese show up mixed in with the large flocks of Canada Geese here. Here are the photos. Makes sense that they should hang out with their relatives, the Canadas, who know all the good feeding and resting spots and how to stay safe from predators.

Winter Finch Forecast says Look for Purple Finches, Red Crossbills

It's about to get finchy! The famous Winter Finch Forecast, put out by the Finch Research Network (which was founded by Matthew Young my coauthor of The Stokes Guide to Finches of the United States and Canada) is predicting that great cone crops on white pine in eastern Canada and Northeastern U.S. may bring Red Crossbills and Purple Finches. Look for them in forests near you. You may also see Purple Finches at your feeders stocked with sunflower. Other beautiful finches like Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Siskins may also make an appearance. This is always an exciting time of anticipation!!

 

Nor'easter September, 2026 Storm Birds

 

                                                    Razorbill

                                                   Iceland Gull

                                                 Wilson's Storm-Petrel

                             Common (left) and Thick-billed (right) Murres

While we are hunkered down in the nor'easter (we are OK and still have power), other birders have headed to coastal areas like (Cape Cod, Andrew's Point, Gloucester MA) to see all the storm blown birds coming closer to shore such as Razorbills, storm-petrels, jaegers, gulls and more. Storms bring possible excitement for rare birds showing up, as long as birders stay safe. Take care everyone.

Photos from other times.