Friday, October 26, 2012

October 25, 2012 Common Redpolls and other finches on the move south.

Winter finches are plenitful, definitely on their way south or at least in search of food! Today I had my first Common Redpoll, somewhat early, a group of 6 at Britannia Conservation Area/Mud Lake. This fits well with Ron Pittaway's Winter Finch Forecast. During the past week in my travels throughout eastern Ontario I've encountered flocks of White-winged Crossbill flying over Gull Island, at Presqu'ile,  Pine Siskins all over Prince Edward Point,  Evening Grosbeak both PEPT and Carp, and today, October 26th, 2 Red Crossbill in my backyard, #173 for the yard list.
Most of the the Black Scoters from yesterday's fallout were gone. I did find a few small flocks of male White-winged Scoter and a couple of female Black Scoters scattered along the Ottawa River from Shirley's Bay to Remic Rapids. This is typical behavior for Black Scoters. As with almost all scoter flights/fallouts I've witnessed, the birds were gone the following day. Snow Buntings continue to move through the area with small flocks 15-30+ birds at Shirley's Bay.

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