Seeing quite a few HOUSE FINCH in small groups on a regular basis on
Capitol Hill over the past month.

PINE SISKIN were very apparent on The Hill during the snow after
Christmas in flocks of 5 to 10 ... not sure if they came in from the
mountains (like the RED BREASTED SAPSUCKERS).

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH have been feeding intermittently in largish flocks
for an extended time (hours) in Silver Birches close to Thomas St P-
Patch again over the past month.

Though last week seemed to be very quiet for Volunteer Park aside
from the regulars (AMERICAN CROW, AMERICAN ROBIN, MALLARD, GLAUCOUS-
WINGED GULL, ANNE'S HUMMINGBIRD, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, BUSHTIT, RED-
BREASTED NUTHATCH, GOLD-CROWNED KINGLET, RUBY-CROWND KINGLET, BROWN
CREEPER, STARLING). But not much of the other passerines. I've been
putting this down to the windy conditions.

So they seem to be around but I don't have a great baseline of
previous years to compare with the past.

On Jan 11, 2009, at 7:37 PM, Jamie Samans wrote:

> I've been thinking the same thing. House Finches have always been
> one of
> our most common yard birds. We took all the feeders in for more
> than a
> month over the summer due to bear, and since I put them back out I
> haven't
> seen a house finch. In the year before they went AWOL I started
> seeing
> finches with the conjunctivitis, which we hadn't seen before (we've
> lived
> here for 4 years). But even during the worst no more than 10-15%
> seemed to
> ever have it at once (maybe 2-3 birds out of the 20 or so that came
> to our
> feeders regularly).
>
> -Jamie Samans
> jsamans at gmail.com
> Fall City, WA
>
> On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 6:59 PM, Douglas Daily
> <dfdpaf at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> I apologize if this has been covered here. I have not kept up very
>> well.
>> But I am in North Seattle and the lack of any kind of finches at
>> my finch
>> feeder is unsettling. Has there been reported a paucity of finches?
>>
>> Thanks.

--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com