Can we expect an invasion of winter finches? Published: Sunday,
December 30, 2012 at 4:30 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, December
28, 2012 at 12:52 p.m. With one eye up north and another on our
bird feeders, we are all keeping our fingers crossed this
winter. Maybe this will be the year we will have some winter
finches to talk about. Along with hundreds of thousands of
American robins moving south along the New Jersey shore, huge
numbers of pine siskins have been seen migrating toward the
Carolinas. Mixed in with these southbound siskins are purple
finches, red-breasted nuthatches, white-winged and red
crossbills and even a few evening grosbeaks. Every winter there
are usually a few purple finches and pine siskins around the
Western North Carolina mountains, but maybe this year we will be
lucky enough to have good numbers of both these irruptive
species at our feeders. These finch invasions occur at irregular
intervals every few years, and seem to be a result of a lower
seed or cone crop in the Northern forests,