Pine Grosbeaks, plus video, Wow!

For most of yesterday we had two female Pine Grosbeaks (the males are mostly red) hanging out in our "Prairie Fire" crabapple trees chowing down. I was amazed how many apples they ate and they seemed to continuously eat for most of the afternoon, like a kid going through the Halloween candy. They were really very tame, not at all bothered by us or the Corgis who ran under the trees. The hardest part of photographing them was to get a clear show through the tangle of apple branches and also to every get a photo of them without applesauce covering their bill!

This is a more northern species who usually is found throughout Canada and up into AK. In irruptive years, such as this one, when so many northern species are coming down into the U.S. due to lack of food in their usual area, Pine Grosbeaks can join the exodus. Pine Grosbeaks are now being reported from numerous locations around our state of NH.
Thus far this fall we have had these irruptive species visit our yard; Pine Siskins, Common Redpolls, Purple Finches, Red-breasted Nuthatches, White-winged Crossbills, and no, Pine Grosbeaks.
We try hard to landscape our property for the birds, using lots of berry and food producing shrubs and trees. It pays off when we get to see such a beautiful species. Let us know if you see any.

Video (handheld) and photo number two shot with the Canon SX HS, the rest with my Canon 1D Mark IV.

Red-breasted Nuthatches are irrupting too! Are you seeing them?

Red-breasted Nuthatch, female, has a gray cap

Red-breasted Nuthatch, male, has a black cap

Another bird we are getting at our feeders is Red-breasted Nuthatch. Very cute bird! We are hearing reports that they are being seen far down from their usual winter range, a sign that they, like Pine Siskins, Evening Grosbeak,s and others, are irrupting, or leaving their usual winter range because of food scarcity there. We are in the permanent range of this bird, so we do see them regularly, but we heard from birders that they are being seen as far south as GA.
Though I would share these photos.
Tell us if you are seeing any Red-breasted Nuthatches
For information on where to see the most updated winter, summer, year-round ranges and migration routes of all the bird species see our new The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America.

Evening Grosbeaks, Irrupting, Coming Your Way Too!

We keep telling you the big news in birding circles is this is going to be a big irruptive year for certain birds. It's true for Evening Grosbeaks. These birds only show up certain years when their winter range food crops are low. So we are seeing them repeatedly come to our bird feeders now in NH. These two female Evening Grosbeaks were enjoying the sunflower seed, their fav, this morning. Look how they dwarf the goldfinches feeding with them!
Keep a look out and your feeders well stocked with sunflower and perching room and let us know when you see Evening Grosbeaks.

Pine Siskin Invasion is Starting!!

Pine Siskins at our feeders

Update, just took this photo today, there are 50 plus siskins in our yard.

Pine Siskins have started invading New England. We had a flock of 25 at our feeders yesterday and we are getting reports from other birders in New Hampshire of Pine Siskin flocks at their feeders..
According to the Winter Finch Forecast given each year by Ron Pittaway of the Ontario Field Ornithologists, there is a "widespread tree seed crop failure in the Northeast...Both coniferous and hardwood tree seed crops are generally poor from northeastern Ontario extending eastward across Quebec to Newfoundland south through the Maritime Provinces, New York and New England states" and each irruptive bird species will deal with it differently.
Thus, Pine Siskins in the Northeast could move south this fall and winter due to poor cone crops. They may show up in numbers at bird feeders.

Green-morph Pine Siskin is very rare. A small percentage of male siskins (maybe only 1%) can show and abnormal amount of yellow in their plumage and appear greenish on their back. They are called "green-morph" Pine Siskins. We had one show up at our feeders in 2009.

Here is another photo of the green-morph. So look closely at the siskin flocks at your feeders, to see if you have one.

This could be a big year for irruptive winter finches in the Northeast and beyond.  We have also has a flock of Evening Grosbeaks visit our feeders yesterday and we have many Purple Finches at our feeders too. Keep your feeders stocked, as finches like lots of perching room, keep an eye out to see who shows up, and let us know.