Following up on our earlier story of redpolls, these Chickadee-sized birds have been spending the last six weeks feeding almost exclusively in weedy fields and along rural roads. As anticipated, they have begun to also appear at some feeders and in the weeks ahead more will likely follow suit.

I just had my first few birds recently while others have had several dozen for a couple of weeks. A friend in an Eastern Ontario town was awestruck when his 60 birds mushroomed to 300 one day. They were devouring Nyjer seed, a pound a day and those that couldn’t access one of his silo or seed sock feeders went for sunflower seeds. They were buzzing about him as he filled them and quickly grabbed on when he was finished. They are bundles of energy and entertaining to watch.

By Brian Morin

Publisher of Ontario Birding News