November 7th, 2011

Each year, information from many sources is compiled and posted online by Ron Pittaway, a well-known and well-respected ornithologist. I enjoy reading to see which irruptive species might be visiting the local area and which ones are remaining up in the north – all a result of food availability.

I had read the forecast when it was posted by Ron, but until last night I had not thought too much about it – perhaps because there has not yet been a sign of winter, not to mention winter finches. But I was reading the Ontbirds rare bird sightings and there were several reports of White-winged Crossbills in Southern Ontario, including Oakville, Whitby, and Cambridge!

You can read the forecast at:
http://www.jeaniron.ca/2011/finchforecast.htm

The locations of the weekend sightings can be found in the Oct 31st archive on OntBirds at:
http://ontbirds.ca/pipermail/birdalert_ontbirds.ca/

I would be interested in hearing about your sightings!  Have fun, and good luck.