[mou-net] Winter finches
Currently have about 220 redpolls feeding in my back yard. Numbers had dropped off these past two weeks, and reading other reports from southern MN, I thought the large flock I'd been feeding all winter was gone. I always have goldfinches in the winter, but the redpolls seemed to have displaced them this year. I honestly don't think the goldfinches can compete with this mass of redpolls, though I have a smattering of siskins mixed in. The siskins typically feed at the end of the redpoll sessions. Going through about 7 lbs of seed/ day, and all my feeders are squirrel proof. Conversely, I have searched at least twice a week since early Dec. for pine grosbeaks and crossbills and have not turned up a single bird, though I have found areas where crossbills have fed. Off topic...perfect time of year to remove sparrows and starlings from your Martin housing. Use live traps so you can release nuthatches, chickadees, etc. Randy Frederickson Willmar Middle School Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
Re: [mou-net] Winter finches
My 70-120 redpolls are also gone. Hard to keep track, but there were days when 120 seemed low... The seed was only about 1/2 gone when I filled it this morning. Other days during the last few months it was completely empty in about 2 days!! Holly Peirson SE Anoka Co. -Original Message- From: Minnesota Birds [mailto:MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU] On Behalf Of Frederickson Randy Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2013 10:53 AM To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU Subject: [mou-net] Winter finches Currently have about 220 redpolls feeding in my back yard. Numbers had dropped off these past two weeks, and reading other reports from southern MN, I thought the large flock I'd been feeding all winter was gone. I always have goldfinches in the winter, but the redpolls seemed to have displaced them this year. I honestly don't think the goldfinches can compete with this mass of redpolls, though I have a smattering of siskins mixed in. The siskins typically feed at the end of the redpoll sessions. Going through about 7 lbs of seed/ day, and all my feeders are squirrel proof. Conversely, I have searched at least twice a week since early Dec. for pine grosbeaks and crossbills and have not turned up a single bird, though I have found areas where crossbills have fed. Off topic...perfect time of year to remove sparrows and starlings from your Martin housing. Use live traps so you can release nuthatches, chickadees, etc. Randy Frederickson Willmar Middle School Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
Re: [mou-net] Finches
We have about six to twelve Goldfinches regularly coming to the sunflower feeders, along with about the same number of House Finches. Pine Siskins come in for short periods of time, but I can often hear them in the tree tops. It has seemed like only two to four were around most of the winter, but numbers appear to be higher now with about six at the bird bath and feeder yesterday at a time. Greater numbers of finches are in the treetops and may be coming to neighboring feeders. Redpolls have enjoyed my neighbor's feeder much more than mine. Nobody has interest in my thistle seed. On Sat, Mar 9, 2013 at 12:01 PM, danerika daner...@gmail.com wrote: Betsy and All-- I banded great numbers of goldfinches, redpolls, and siskins for almost 30 years in South Dakota. At first it appeared that goldfinches were replaced by siskins, which in turn were replaced by redpolls--depending on the winter. As time passed, however, I came to agree with Betsy Beneke. I concluded that these winter finch cycles are random and unpredictable. Some winters I banded numbers of all three species. This winter, here in Minnesota, we have many siskins and redpolls but very few goldfinches. dan On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 7:23 AM, Betsy Beneke birderbe...@yahoo.com wrote: I'm still feeding anywhere from 50 to 125 common redpo Erika, and all, I'm still feeding anywhere from 50 to 125 common redpolls at my house east of St. Cloud every day. No pine siskins or goldfinches all winter. At Sherburne Refuge, I've had scattered goldfinches all winter - no regulars - there are 2-6 birds one or two days a week. No siskins. Still seeing a couple of large flocks of redpolls on the east side of the refuge, but I haven't had a single one at my bird feeder at HQ all winter. Guess they just never found me. I've found in my many years of feeding birds in MN that goldfinches and pine siskins are always roaming, you can never count on them from one year or even season to the next. Betsy Beneke Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html -- Dan or Erika Tallman Northfield, Minnesota daner...@gmail.com http://sites.google.com/site/tallmanorum http://dantallmansbirdblog.blogspot.com http://picasaweb.google.com/danerika The White Album: Portraits of Minnesota Birds http://www.blurb.com/b/3992062-the-white-album-portraits-of-minnesota-birds-dan-t Two Years Among the Odonates http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3467428 the best shod travel with wet feet...Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes ”—H. D. Thoreau; Back off, man. I'm a scientist.—Dr. Peter Venkman Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html -- Steve Weston On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.net Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
Re: [mou-net] Finches
I find these regional and local movements of finches fascinating. The hard part is that the tools we have to track those movements don't work well for these species. To figure out what they're really doing, we need to be able to follow individual birds, and that's nearly impossible for small, nomadic bids. Satellite transmitters are too big for most of the finches, and these new geolocators that are illuminating lots of bird movements require recapturing the birds to get the data. We could track them with radio transmitters, but those have limited range. Banding recoveries are probably our best bet, but they're rare enough that we don't get a very complete picture. So it may be a while before we get a thorough understanding of finch movements. Dan, did you ever recapture birds from previous years? I'm really curious how often birds come back to the same wintering areas. We know that many finches move around based on regional availability of food, to the point that there's an annual forecast of those movements for the northeast (http://1birds.com/winter-finch-forecast-for-2012-2013.htm). I think this food-based nomadic movement is very true for siskins and redpolls, and might be true on a smaller scale for goldfinches. Several years ago, siskins completely disappeared from Washington state for close to a year. People started worrying that there had been a big die-off. Then, they reappeared as mysteriously as they'd gone, and I'm not sure if anyone knows where they went during that time. As a final note, there are a ton of bird species in Australia that wander around from season to season and year to year, depending on where water and food are available. There are a few groups of birds that we know do that in North America (owls, finches), but I wonder how much of it occurs with other species (diurnal raptors, for example). So much we still have to learn. Matt Dufort Minneapolis On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 2:15 PM, Steve Weston swest...@comcast.net wrote: We have about six to twelve Goldfinches regularly coming to the sunflower feeders, along with about the same number of House Finches. Pine Siskins come in for short periods of time, but I can often hear them in the tree tops. It has seemed like only two to four were around most of the winter, but numbers appear to be higher now with about six at the bird bath and feeder yesterday at a time. Greater numbers of finches are in the treetops and may be coming to neighboring feeders. Redpolls have enjoyed my neighbor's feeder much more than mine. Nobody has interest in my thistle seed. On Sat, Mar 9, 2013 at 12:01 PM, danerika daner...@gmail.com wrote: Betsy and All-- I banded great numbers of goldfinches, redpolls, and siskins for almost 30 years in South Dakota. At first it appeared that goldfinches were replaced by siskins, which in turn were replaced by redpolls--depending on the winter. As time passed, however, I came to agree with Betsy Beneke. I concluded that these winter finch cycles are random and unpredictable. Some winters I banded numbers of all three species. This winter, here in Minnesota, we have many siskins and redpolls but very few goldfinches. dan On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 7:23 AM, Betsy Beneke birderbe...@yahoo.com wrote: I'm still feeding anywhere from 50 to 125 common redpo Erika, and all, I'm still feeding anywhere from 50 to 125 common redpolls at my house east of St. Cloud every day. No pine siskins or goldfinches all winter. At Sherburne Refuge, I've had scattered goldfinches all winter - no regulars - there are 2-6 birds one or two days a week. No siskins. Still seeing a couple of large flocks of redpolls on the east side of the refuge, but I haven't had a single one at my bird feeder at HQ all winter. Guess they just never found me. I've found in my many years of feeding birds in MN that goldfinches and pine siskins are always roaming, you can never count on them from one year or even season to the next. Betsy Beneke Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html -- Dan or Erika Tallman Northfield, Minnesota daner...@gmail.com http://sites.google.com/site/tallmanorum http://dantallmansbirdblog.blogspot.com http://picasaweb.google.com/danerika The White Album: Portraits of Minnesota Birds http://www.blurb.com/b/3992062-the-white-album-portraits-of-minnesota-birds-dan-t Two Years Among the Odonates http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3467428 the best shod travel with wet feet...Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes ”—H. D. Thoreau; Back off, man. I'm a scientist.—Dr. Peter Venkman Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html -- Steve Weston On Quigley
Re: [mou-net] Finches
Matt et al.-- I do not recall ever recapturing a siskin or a redpoll in a subsequent year from banding. None of my redpolls were ever found elsewhere, although I am aware of a South Dakota-banded redpoll being recovered in Connecticut. I have had South Dakota siskins recaptured in California and Maryland. In South Dakota, I once caught someone else's goldfinch banded in southeastern Colorado. One of my Minnesota goldfinches was recovered in west-central Saskatchewan. I am pretty sure I have recovered goldfinches banded locally after a year, but I would have to check on that. dan On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 3:17 PM, Matt Dufort zeledo...@gmail.com wrote: I find these regional and local movements of finches fascinating. The hard part is that the tools we have to track those movements don't work well for these species. To figure out what they're really doing, we need to be able to follow individual birds, and that's nearly impossible for small, nomadic bids. Satellite transmitters are too big for most of the finches, and these new geolocators that are illuminating lots of bird movements require recapturing the birds to get the data. We could track them with radio transmitters, but those have limited range. Banding recoveries are probably our best bet, but they're rare enough that we don't get a very complete picture. So it may be a while before we get a thorough understanding of finch movements. Dan, did you ever recapture birds from previous years? I'm really curious how often birds come back to the same wintering areas. We know that many finches move around based on regional availability of food, to the point that there's an annual forecast of those movements for the northeast ( http://1birds.com/winter-finch-forecast-for-2012-2013.htm). I think this food-based nomadic movement is very true for siskins and redpolls, and might be true on a smaller scale for goldfinches. Several years ago, siskins completely disappeared from Washington state for close to a year. People started worrying that there had been a big die-off. Then, they reappeared as mysteriously as they'd gone, and I'm not sure if anyone knows where they went during that time. As a final note, there are a ton of bird species in Australia that wander around from season to season and year to year, depending on where water and food are available. There are a few groups of birds that we know do that in North America (owls, finches), but I wonder how much of it occurs with other species (diurnal raptors, for example). So much we still have to learn. Matt Dufort Minneapolis On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 2:15 PM, Steve Weston swest...@comcast.net wrote: We have about six to twelve Goldfinches regularly coming to the sunflower feeders, along with about the same number of House Finches. Pine Siskins come in for short periods of time, but I can often hear them in the tree tops. It has seemed like only two to four were around most of the winter, but numbers appear to be higher now with about six at the bird bath and feeder yesterday at a time. Greater numbers of finches are in the treetops and may be coming to neighboring feeders. Redpolls have enjoyed my neighbor's feeder much more than mine. Nobody has interest in my thistle seed. On Sat, Mar 9, 2013 at 12:01 PM, danerika daner...@gmail.com wrote: Betsy and All-- I banded great numbers of goldfinches, redpolls, and siskins for almost 30 years in South Dakota. At first it appeared that goldfinches were replaced by siskins, which in turn were replaced by redpolls--depending on the winter. As time passed, however, I came to agree with Betsy Beneke. I concluded that these winter finch cycles are random and unpredictable. Some winters I banded numbers of all three species. This winter, here in Minnesota, we have many siskins and redpolls but very few goldfinches. dan On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 7:23 AM, Betsy Beneke birderbe...@yahoo.com wrote: I'm still feeding anywhere from 50 to 125 common redpo Erika, and all, I'm still feeding anywhere from 50 to 125 common redpolls at my house east of St. Cloud every day. No pine siskins or goldfinches all winter. At Sherburne Refuge, I've had scattered goldfinches all winter - no regulars - there are 2-6 birds one or two days a week. No siskins. Still seeing a couple of large flocks of redpolls on the east side of the refuge, but I haven't had a single one at my bird feeder at HQ all winter. Guess they just never found me. I've found in my many years of feeding birds in MN that goldfinches and pine siskins are always roaming, you can never count on them from one year or even season to the next. Betsy Beneke Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
