For those of us getting hammered with the polar vortex: what changes in your area’s flora/fauna have you noticed? I’m getting weird yard bird activity; huge flocks of goldfinches (usually a rare visitor), lots of white throated sparrows, a huge flock of robins, even a brown creeper on the suet (no …

I live in northern IL US. I had someone I know invite me to their house to see a Spotted Towhee that was coming to their feeders, I got to see that and also saw White-crowned Sparrows. At my feeders, I’ve been getting large amounts of chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches, and at one of my feedin…

Huge flocks of goldfinches? Are you positive they’re not pine siskins? A flock of about thirty ravages our birdfeeder almost every day and I thought they were goldfinches at first until I saw the more striated patterning on their backs

Very sure. We have seen some pine siskens too https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/69731345

I have three sets of feeders that I watch that have finch feeders. Two of them get lots of goldfinches and only a couple siskins. The third gets high numbers of both.

At my bird feeders in northeastern Oregon, got an American Tree Sparrow which is a completely new bird for the yard. Also have an Oregon x Pink-sided Junco intergrade and over 250 Red-winged Blackbirds. To top it off, an immature Northern Harrier has called our heavy foliaged yard its hunting ground…

On the other side of the Rockies, we’re having a rather mild February and the red-winged blackbirds have come back to our wetland early. One was singing in my backyard two days ago and they usually show up in March. Sadly, our goldfinches and pine siskins are experiencing a salmonella outbreak my f…

I’m seeing almost the same thing! First Fox Sparrow in my yard ever as well as the first Eastern Towhee. First day of snow my feeder was covered up with Gold Finches and moderate flocks of female Red-winged Blackbirds. Today I saw very few female Red-winged blackbirds but huge flocks of males. M…

The most out-of-the-ordinary thing here (wooded, hilly suburbs of Tulsa, OK) has been a flyover group of snow geese. Aside from that, larger-than-usual numbers of sapsuckers, mockingbirds, robins, yellow-rumped warblers, and thrashers at feeders. Surprisingly, no winter irruptives (pine siskins, re…

I live in Columbia, MD and one unusual bird I have been seeing is Fox Sparrows. I last saw one during the snow in December, and this storm seems to have brought them back. I got a high count of 4 at once!

If I had a Northern Harrier making regular hunting visits to my yard, I could die a happy man.

New/unusual yard observations during this weather?

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New/unusual yard observations during this weather?

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