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."
