Seeing a dozen house finches at the bird feeder at one time is a lot in my
experience. What a surprise then to see a flock of something near 100 house
finches foraging under a power line right-of-way during the Paintsville
Christmas Bird Count yesterday in Johnson County. The birds were feeding on the
seeds of common ragweed. Habitat where the powerline cut across the hill was a
mix of forest and contour strip mine benches. Location was the Beech Fork Tract
of the Czar Hunting Access Area.
We enjoyed good numbers of red-breasted nuthatches during the CBC. The
irruption of nuthatches coincided with a bumper cone crop on the Virginia pines
around Dewey Lake. Just about every other Virginia pine stand had red-breasted
nuthatches. Nuthatch numbers were especially good in pine stands along the
Sassafras Trail at Jenny Wiley State Park.
Scott Freidhof
Rowan County
