Chirps and Cheeps

Yesterday, one lone Pine Siskin showed up at our feeders and today, we saw five at one time! 

I've been keeping my eyes peeled and my fingers crossed for the last couple of weeks hoping to see something unusual.  Many people,  from all around the WNY region, have been reporting sightings of the irruptive* finch species: Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, Red Crossbills, White-winged Crossbills, and Pine Siskins.  Last week at the WBU store, I happened to witness the first-time appearance of two female Evening Grosbeaks to the store. Everyone was quite ecstatic! I believe they said it was species #85 for the store.  And I thought that was a great idea: keeping track of what species comes through your yard. I just might do that too!  Danielle also suggested marking your FOY and your FOS sightings on your calendar.  That's a great idea too.  Today, I would mark FOS for both the Pine Siskin and the American Tree Sparrow.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the sparrow.

Getting back to the siskins, we've had Pine Siskins here several times before, but never in November. I really enjoy their zipping-like sounds - what a great weekend treat!  I hope this is but the beginning of an outstanding irruptive year!

* Bird Irruptions: irregular migrations of birds to areas where they don't normally winter - usually in response to low food levels in their normal areas, although sometimes they appear to be cyclic. More about bird irruptions can be found at:

• http://birding.about.com/od/birdingbasics/a/birdirruptions.htm
• http://www.birdsource.org/ibs/irruption.html