I’ve been spending extended time feeder watching at home in preparation for my upcoming annual “Feeder Birds in Winter” snapshot blog. Unfortunately, we are not being frequented by as many winter finches as a lot of people are right now, but it’s been an interesting project once again. I’ll have a blog posted in the coming days.  A few birding mornings elsewhere yielded some following observations of note.

• 1 drake Barrow’s Goldeneye, Bernard Lown Peace Bridge, Auburn-Lewiston, 2/10 (with Jeannette)

• 1 pair Barrow’s Goldeneye, Winslow Park, Freeport, 2/13.

• At least one Turkey Vulture continues along the I-295 corridor between Cumberland and Freeport as of this week.

This Week in Irruptives.

An absolutely incredible Saturday Morning Birdwalk on the 7th included a most-unexpected tally of 7 species of winter finches – which was wholly unexpected given the dearth of most finches locally! The “Winter Finch Big Day” that developed was actually a secondary goal, with the original one: 20 species of birds in Freeport, west of I-295 only (and therefore no open water) also being reached. This was an outing that will not soon be forgotten. Highlights included 8 PINE GROSBEAKS and 26 COMMON REDPOLLS at Hidden Pond Preserve in Freeport and 16 EVENING GROSBEAKS at the Old Brunswick Road/Ross Road intersection in Durham. We also had Pine Siskins at two locations, two feeders full of Purple Finches, and of course found some House Finches and American Goldfinches to pad the list. Full trip report can be seen here.

Purple Finches have increased overall this week, and Evening Grosbeaks continue to be around, but rather sporadic. One Pine Siskin flew over our Durham yard on the 12^th.