Glad you finally did get some, Tom! Our first Redpoll showed up Dec 31st. Jan
3rd, the first 4 Pine Siskins arrived. The numbers of each increased by a few
more each day, until the Siskins eclipsed them. Slowly, the Siskin numbers
began dwindling, peaking at about 30, (about equal with the Redpolls at that
time), then dropping down to just a handful a day, where it remains up to now.
Meanwhile, the Redpolls exploded, from an average of 60-80 topping off at 150
on March 1st. The sudden uptick in numbers to over 100 daily only began here
about Feb 23rd. March 2nd and 3rd, we had a dramatic drop back down to 60 and
50, respectively. Today was about 60.
We've had Cooper's Hawks here and there throughout the winter, but an immature
and an adult male suddenly started visiting multiple times a day over the last
3 days. Nonetheless, I had already assumed the little cuties increased and
decreased so fast because they were getting ready to move on, anyway. As we've
had a couple of days lately with some southerly winds, I wondered if there was
some effect from that.
That doesn't mean that the hawks aren't causing the main disruption to
irruption, but last time we had them, they did kinda start to leave in early to
mid March. I sure will miss them, but it HAS been pretty hard to keep those
feeders filled! lol
Kind regards-
Gloria Shiraef
Manitowoc City, County
On Mar 4, 2022, at 7:05 PM, FreeLists Mailing List Manager wrote:
From: Thomas Wood <tcwood729@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [wisb] Re: Redpolls
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2022 13:05:49 -0600
The redpolls seem to be quite restless now. This winter the first ones
arrived long after other people were seeing many, and it was usually just one
or two.
A couple days ago 34 descended to below the feeders in back of our unit, then
suddenly they all disappeared. There were three this morning, but wisely,
when the adult Cooperââ¢Ës Hawk arrived, they skedaddled. This afternoon
the juvenile Cooperââ¢Ës Hawk arrived, so there is very little activity at
the feeders!
Thomas Wood, Menomonee Falls, Waukesha County
