This report has been updated for 2021-2022.
As winter approaches the migratory birds-warblers, vireos, blackbirds, and hawks-depart. Resident birds, chickadees, titmice, cardinals and the like persist, but we dearly miss the departed. Fear not. Our winter migrants, the winter finches and their allies, will arrive shortly. Or not. The birds known collectively as winter finches are irruptive species, appearing in Vermont in some years, but not others. Predicting their movements has become a cottage industry of sorts and forecasts put out by Tyler Hoar of the Finch Research Network.
Winter finches are members of the family Fringillidae, which includes Pine Grosbeak, Common Redpoll, Pine Siskin, and Evening Grosbeak, as well as the crossbills, Red Crossbill and White-winged Crossbill. These birds live and breed in the boreal forests of Canada and northern New England, but breed sparingly, if at all in Vermont. Other finches that are Vermont breeding birds such as American Goldfinch, House Finch, and Purple Finch will not be covered here.
A review of the CBC results from the Burlington Circle from 2006-2010, for example, illustrates the irruptive behavior of four winter finches.
| Species (record, year) | '06 | '07 | '08 | '09 | '10 |
| Common Redpoll (908, 1965) | 0 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 61 |
| Pine Siskin (130, 1987) | 0 | 1 | 75 | 0 | 16 |
| Pine Grosbeak (244, 1985) | 0 | 196 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Evening Grosbeak (920, 1980) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The 2020-2021 winter season produced a spectacular irruption of winter finches. Numerous Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls were identified in the Burlington area CBC, including the first Hoary Redpoll reported (and photographed) in 55 years. Bohemian Waxwings were not reported in the CBC, but showed up in good numbers in the Champlain Valley in late winter.
Why do the winter finches irrupt? The short answer is food. When food supplies in Canada are exhausted, these birds migrate southward in search of food. Thus, knowledge of their food preferences and the status of crops in Canada and the United States in any given year is the key to forecasting irruptions.
Although this year is not expected to be an irruption year in the northeast some southward movement of Pine Siskin, Evening Grosbeak, Common Redpoll, and Red Crossbill is expected. A useful guide to the identification and behavior of winter finches can found at http://www.jeaniron.ca/2011/WinterFinches.pdf . Here are the specifics for the winter finches this season.
Common Redpoll
The morphological hallmark of the Common Redpoll is the red patch on their crown, hence the name red poll. These sparrow-sized birds of the genus Carduelis sport a stubby yellow beak, broad streaks on the flanks, and a dark face. Rarely, Hoary Redpolls intermingle in flocks of Common Redpolls. Hoary Redpolls are slightly larger than their cousins and noticeably paler. Recently though, doubt has been cast on the validity of the distinction between these species. Regardless, spotting one of these frosty little birds adds excitement to the search for Common Redpolls.
Redpolls are birch seed specialists. When birch seeds are abundant in Canada redpolls stay north; when birch seeds are scarce, redpolls irrupt. For example, in our local CBC data Common Redpolls were counted in 2007, 2010, 2014, and 2018, but not in the intervening years. This will not be a flight year for redpolls since birch, alder, and conifer seed crops in the north are good to bumper. Still, a few redpolls might appear in northern Vermont later this winter. Look for them in weedy fields beginning in late February and March. Common Redpolls will come to feeders, too, preferring nyjer (thistle) and black oil sunflower seeds. Feeding frenzies may ensue.
Pine Siskin
These nomadic little finches are distinguished by their slender beak, heavy breast streaking, and yellow wing and tail markings. Pine Siskins feed mainly on seeds, especially spruce seeds, but also the seeds of birches, alders, and pines.
Since the cone crop of spruce seeds in northern Canada is good to excellent this year, few siskins will wander south except possibly in the Northeast Kingdom. However, the cone crop in Canada has been devastated by forest fires in the West, which might lead to some siskin movement into the Midwest and possibly the New England states.
Pine Grosbeak
These large finches in the genus Pinicola are hard to miss. Males are large-headed, short-billed, and uniformly pinkish-red on the head, back, and breast. Females are equally distinctive showing subtle yellow-green markings on the head and back and a gray breast. In Newfoundland Pine Grosbeaks are often referred to as “Mopes”, highlighting their lethargic behavior while feeding on their preferred food, mountain-ash berries. From a birders point of view lethargy is a good thing.
2020 was a banner year for Pine Grosbeaks in Vermont. I took the photo shown here at Technology Park in South Burlington in 2012, another irruptive year, where a flock of Pine Grosbeaks was feasting on the ornamental crabapples that line Community Drive. Last year Pine Grosbeaks were seen in significant numbers in Vermont, but this year since the mountain ash berry crop in the northern Canada is good to excellent, the birds are likely to stay put. If Pine Grosbeaks do show up in Vermont later this winter look for them feeding on buckthorn berries, ornamental crabapples, and perhaps sunflower seeds when northern food sources are depleted. In addition to Tech Park ornamental crabapples can be found on the UVM campus and in several Chittenden County neighborhoods.
Evening Grosbeak
This handsome finch, which was the ABA Bird of the Year in 2012, occurs intermittently in the eastern parts of Chittenden County, such as the Birds of Vermont Museum and the Green Mountain Audubon Center in Huntington, but infrequently appears in the Burlington area. Still, in the 1980 CBC in the Burlington circle 980 Evening Grosbeaks were counted and more recently a few reports of Evening Grosbeaks at feeders in the Burlington area have been reorted to VT ebird.
Both sexes of this large finch are large-billed. The yellow cast to the male’s body, his yellow eyebrow, and white secondaries make identification of this Evening Grosbeaks straightforward. Females are less gaudy and are gray overall with a greenish nape and a large pale bill.
Evening Grosbeak populations fluctuate with spruce budworm outbreaks and populations have declined as the effort to control spruce budworms has succeeded. However, the return of spruce budworm outbreaks in Canada and the northeast has increased the breeding success of Evening Grosbeaks and last year there was a generational movement of these handsome birds into the northeastern states.
A few early reports of Evening Grosbeaks at feeders in northeastern Vermont might herald the arrival of more of these birds throughout the state. Evening Grosbeaks in Vermont often collect at feeders in large flocks, feeding voraciously on sunflower seeds. So lay in an ample supply of sunflower seeds this year to prepare for the arrival of these spectacular finches.
Crossbills
Red and White-winged Crossbills nest in the boreal forest of the Northeast Kingdom in some years. The unusual configuration of the crossbill’s beak is a unique adaptation designed to pry seeds from the cones of conifers. Red Crossbills specialize in pine cone seeds, whereas White-winged Crossbills specialize in spruce cones.
Crossbills seldom appear in the Champlain Valley in December. A single White-winged Crossbill was reported in the Burlington CBC in 2008 and only 2 were reported in 2010. The record of 9 White-winged Crossbills was set in 1963. Red Crossbills have been dropped from the CBC list, having not been counted for over 20 years. Nonetheless, 19 Red Crossbills were counted in the 1985 CBC so hope springs eternal.
Red Crossbills are wanderers, though, and in 2020 there were numerous reports of these birds in Colchester, Saxon Hill in Essex, and at the UVM Redstone campus. Tyler Hoar’s winter finch forecast goes into some detail about how to distinguish the many subtypes of Red Crossbills by their calls, including directions for making audio recordings, which can be sent to his colleague Matt Young for identification to type.
White-winged Crossbills occur sporadically at feeders in the Champlain Valley, a rare treat. Since spruce cone crops are good in northeastern Canada this year, White-winged Crossbills will likely not show up in Vermont this winter except possibly in the NEK. Likewise, Red Crossbills will probably be scarce in Vermont this year except in the usual hotspots. If you follow the reports in VT eBird you can discover their locations throughout the winter.
There you have it. Remember, predictions are just that and no more. Whether these predictions will prove to be accurate is unknown. Indeed validating Tyler Hoar’s finch forecast with actual sightings is half the fun. Be on the lookout for this year’s migration of winter finches, the happy wanderers of the north. Here is a link to Tyler Hoar’s winter finch forecast for this year:
https://finchnetwork.org/winter-finch-forecast-2021-2022-by-tyler-hoar
Photo of Common Redpolls in Jericho by Jim Morris