Last winter was boring in the Maine woods. Food was abundant in Canada, so finches stayed north. I’m excited to report that this year looks very different.
The Finch Research Network issued its annual winter forecast this week, and it starts with a bang.
“It looks to be a flight year for many species in eastern Canada. With mostly very poor crops in the boreal forest from central Quebec westward to Manitoba, this has the potential of being the biggest flight year since 2020-21.”
I’m here to tell you that winter was awesome. All the northern-breeding finches flooded into Maine. At times, the chorus of finch noises was downright deafening.
The Finch Research network is a small group of Canadian biologists who share a fondness for some of the noisiest, most gregarious species on the planet. Finches are also tolerant of people, so it’s possible to get pretty close without annoying them.
The forecast is optimistic for every finch species. The biologists study the food supply throughout Canada and make predictions on how each species might be affected.
Pine grosbeaks are fond of fruit, especially mountain ash berries. The network reports a below-average crop from Lake Superior to eastern Quebec, but Maine has a bumper crop. This could bring an influx of pine grosbeaks soon, which I would gladly welcome.
Although evening grosbeaks dine on a wider variety of fruits and nuts, the poor mountain ash crop is likely to push them farther south, too. It may be a good year to stock bird feeders with plenty of black oil sunflower seeds. I plan to do so, as soon as bears stop raiding my property.
Crossbills are adapted to dine on cones. Their bills cross at the tip, enabling them to twist off the seedlings. The network observes that the spruce cone crop is mediocre in central Canada this year, but robust farther west. Many white-winged crossbills are headed that way. However, those in the east are likely to drift southward into Maine this winter.
Red crossbills are more complicated. White-winged crossbills have no identified genetic variations, whereas red crossbills include a large variety of subspecies. The subspecies we usually see in Maine is Type 12. There is little visible difference between all these types, although experts can differentiate them by voice. Each type is adapted to feed on the local cones where they primarily nest, with bills properly sized for the job. But all types can wander if local food is insufficient.
I expect red crossbills to be easy this year. I spent several weeks in Atlantic Canada this summer and had no trouble picking out their call notes as they flew around. There’s a good supply of red crossbills up there, just waiting to get a taste of Maine as winter rolls along.
The smaller finches look to be plentiful. American goldfinches will do whatever they feel like. They are comfortable in Maine year-round, and they definitely appreciate backyard bird feeders.
Pine siskins will be a crap shoot. These small finches nest in northern Maine, across Canada, and throughout the Rockies. Apparently, they had a great summer feasting on spruce budworms in the Canadian boreal forest, wherever it wasn’t on fire. But the poor cone crop in the east will likely send many of them our way. If they’re unsatisfied with conditions in Maine, they may just keep heading south.
It looks like a great year for redpolls. These small finches nest in the taiga region of northern Canada. When winter food is scarce up there, they swarm southward. Last year, food was plentiful above the St. Lawrence River and they stayed home. I don’t remember seeing even one. This year looks like a big invasion.
Non-finch species will also react to winter food shortages in Québec. Some Canadian-breeding blue jays head south every winter, and that’s already happening. A flock of 50 flew over my house last week. However, the irruption numbers look average so far.
Red-breasted nuthatches have been skipping town since mid-August. I’m guessing we’ll see far fewer in the Maine woods this winter, though possibly we’ll see more at feeders.
Cedar and Bohemian waxwings will notice the same scarcity of berries in Québec that will drive the grosbeaks south. Very few visited Maine last year, but I expect them to infest fruit trees this season.
So, this is why a birder looks forward to a Maine winter.
