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.