Winter has returned to the Adirondacks - new snow yesterday (on 4/4) and 8 degrees this morning.
We literally have swarms of Pine Siskins at our feeders and yesterday (4/4/16) is now a record for seed consumption. Even in years when we have 300 to 500 redpolls, I've never observed such feeder behavior like we have in the past couple months. Yesterday, I had to travel to Potsdam. I couldn't fill one of our thistle feeders since we ran out of seed (again). I arrived home around 5 p.m. and couldn't drive up our steep driveway in all the new snow. So I hoisted a thistle seed bag and headed for our house - all the feeders were empty - every last seed in all the sock feeders and the birds were still perched on them! I began to fill the feeders and the siskins swarmed around me like bees - they definitely appeared as starving birds. They landed on the feeders as I filled them. Bill Labes is reporting the same behavior at his Long Lake feeders. Ellie George emailed that the Pine Siskins were landing on her hand for seed and on feeders as she carried them! My dentist, who feeds birds in Potsdam, reported that he can't keep ahead of filling his feeders, but he doesn't believe he has any siskins, just other typical feeder birds (likely many goldfinches which we also have). Earlier in the winter season, the Pine Siskins seemed to have plenty of seed in the Balsam Fir and Birch trees - the two trees they were observed feeding in all winter, but the food must have run low by early March. We are also going through huge amounts of cracked corn - being consumed by many Wild Turkeys, Amer. Crows, a big flock of Dark-eyed Juncos, Blue Jays, and Deer & Squirrels. A few sightings and first-of-the-season species (*) in the past several days: 4/3/16 Long Lake (Hamilton Co.) *Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2 different birds observed along Sabattis Circle Road Gray Jay - 3 (1 along Route 30 and 2 at the Round Lake Trailhead) 4/2/16 Long Lake Gray Jay - 2 (1 along Route 30, and 1 at Sabattis Bog) 4/1/16 Long Lake Gray Jay - 1 along Route 30 *Winter Wren - 1 singing near the Northville Placid Trailhead (South) 3/31/16 Long Lake Ruffed Grouse - 2 together along Sabattis Circle Road with one displaying Amer. Woodcock - 1 observed foraging along Sabattis Circle Road *Northern Flicker - along Tarbell Hill Lane Gray Jay - 2 (1 along Route 30, and 1 at Sabattis Bog) 3/30/16 Long Lake Ruffed Grouse - standing along Sabattis Circle Road Gray Jay - 4 (2 at Sabattis Bog, and 2 at the Round Lake Trailhead) It was nice to meet Wayne Fidler at Sabattis Bog! 3/29/16 Shaw Pond in Long Lake (I forgot this location in my last post) Pied-billed Grebe *Belted Kingfisher Joan Collins President, NYS Ornithological Association Editor, New York Birders Long Lake, NY (315) 244-7127 cell (518) 624-5528 home http://www.adirondackavianexpeditions.com/ http://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
