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Re: Some winter finches heading our way?



On Wed, 3 Nov 1999 steven.shultz@us.pwcglobal.com wrote:
> 
> Just had a chance to read mail from other birding lists. (None as good as
> Carolinabirds, of course :-)
>  Sounds like good numbers of irruptive species heading south this year.
> Some examples from the past week:
> Common Redpoll in Mass. and NJ
> Pine Siskin in MD, PA, MA and just about everywhere else
> Evening Grosbeaks in PA
> Red Crossbills at Cape Henlopen, DE
> Saw-whet Owls on the Eastern Shore of Va.

I heard an awfully familiar-sounding finchy call note over my yard this 
morning. I had heard similar notes on a daily basis at Whitefish Point, 
where Siskins and Redpolls were daily occurrences. Unfortunately, I had 
an antsy passenger who needed a ride to campus, so I couldn't stick 
around to confirm its identity. Maybe I'll head home now and try again...

The winter birds - Junco, White-throats, Yellow-rumps, Kinglets, and a 
Brown Creeper, as well as a less wintry Eastern Phoebe - finally reached 
my yard last week, so I picked up some millet for the sparrows yesterday. 
How do y'all offer that? Just scatter it on the ground? Or on a board? At 
WPBO, we had little discarded cable spools that offered a big enough 
platform for the ground birds to feel comfortable, while keeping the seed 
off the ground so it didn't decompose too fast or disappear into the 
grass. The only spools I saw in Durham Hardware yesterday still had cable 
on them though.

Good birding,

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/