Bird Irruption

by Stan Tekiela
© NatureSmart
December 21, 2007

Winter brings us many surprises. By the definition, surprise means something unexpected. So what does Mother Nature give us that is unexpected? Bird irruptions. And yes, irruption is correctly spelled.

In the bird world, the word irruption is defined as a periodic movement of a number of birds into unusual ranges for a season. In other words, some winters due to reasons that may or may not have to do with lack of food, certain populations of birds will move out of their breeding home range of Canada and come down into the US. This is one of those winters for a group of birds collectively called the “winter finches”. It contains birds such as the Red-breasted Nuthatch, Evening Grosbeak and Common Redpoll. Not all the members of the winter finch group are technically finches; it’s a mixture of birds that are all lumped together and given the name “winter finches”. It works for me.

You might be able to experience this irruption of winter finches in your own backyard. Many people throughout the northern tier of states are reporting Red-breasted Nuthatches at their feeders. This smaller relative of the more familiar White-breasted Nuthatch normally breeds and nests throughout Canada and Alaska. They also breed up and down the Appalachian Mountains and Rocky Mountains. In most years a few break out of their breeding range and can be seen throughout the US. But in some winters, like this one, huge numbers of Red-breasted Nuthatches fly out of their normal range and show up in backyards all over the place. Reports are coming in from nearly every state in the nation.

Another of the winter finch tribe is the Common Redpoll. This tiny finch (this one actually is a finch) with a red cap, yellow bill and a streaked chest nests way up north in the arctic. Some years we don’t see them at all but this year was predicted to be a good year because of the poor birch tree seed crop. So far the prediction seems to be fairly accurate. In just the past couple of weeks we are seeing large numbers of these finches. They are almost always seen in small to medium sized flocks and are happy to visit any thistle feeder you have put out for them. So make sure your thistle feeder is full with fresh seed.

Another member of the finch clan is the Bohemian Waxwing. This large fruit eater bird from the far north nests way up in the Northwest Territories of Canada along with Alaska. It is a sleek gray bird with beautiful yellow and red markings on its wings and tail. They look very similar to the more familiar Cedar Waxwing. Large flocks of Bohemian Waxwings make their way down to the US when berry crops are low in their home range. This year large groups of several hundred are being reported all over the US from Colorado to Connecticut.

The Bohemian Waxwings will descend upon any tree that still bears fruit and will feed until they have striped the tree of all the fruit. It may take a day or two to consume all the fruit but once they do, they will fly off in search of the next fruit tree. They seem to really like the bright orange fruit of the Mountain Ash tree. I have several of these trees in my yard and they are the first berries to go.

There has been very little to no movement of northern owls this winter. A few Snowy Owls have shown up in all the usually places but there seems to be no large scale movement of Great Gray Owls and Northern Hawk Owls. Sure a few have popped up here and there but nothing out of the ordinary. This is not going to be a good year for owls. Until next time...

Back to Column Archives  ·  Back to top