Doug et al,

I was struck by the scarcity of finches during the period of snow and
intense cold, when so many other birds were piling in, but we have
had a few House Finches and Pine Siskins at our feeders in the past
week or so. One of the siskins was clearly sick, sat on the feeder
with head tucked in late afternoon one day and didn't respond to my
approach. It was gone the next day. Although we used to see them, we
haven't had Evening Grosbeaks here for years. I occasionally see a
goldfinch or two, but they have never been regular. Have had both Red
Crossbill and Purple Finch in the yard, but rarely and not recently.
House Finches have been around pretty much all the time, siskins when
they are in the area in numbers. That's my finch report!

What has really changed in my neighborhood is the abundance of House
Sparrows. We used to have hordes of them at the feeders, but now I
rarely see one. They have been declining for a few years.
Interesting....

Dennis

On Jan 12, 2009, at 12:02 PM, tweeters-
request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:59:59 -0500 (EST)
> From: Douglas Daily <dfdpaf at earthlink.net>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Lack of Finches
>
> 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.

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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