Yesterday I looked around the yard late in the morning and found the first of season Juncos, and an imm White-crowned Sparrow.  The WCSP was especially nice - they are uncommon at our house and missed in some years.   It was perched in a low branch of a white pine tree next to a field, simply resting.

This morning I went out around 9 and it was very cold and windy but I could still hear well.  I was hoping to find something new and after a walkaround the perimeter I was returning to the house when I heard a soft note I did not recognize coming from a treeline, which was followed by some MYWA chips (they are everywhere now).  I saw the MYWAs but could not figure out who the occasional softer notes were coming from.  I was half expecting it to be a Kinglet but it didn't sound right.  I had been standing there about a minute and was about to give up when I peripherally saw movement in a spruce tree next to me.   I had not looked in it because I thought the sound was coming from the other direction.  Wrong!

It was about 10 Pine Siskins, feeding on spruce cone seeds.  The Spruce had a very high number of cones this year and one side was literally covered with cones.  The Siskins were near the top (~40 feet) and nearly silent, except for a very occasional soft peep.

I was looking up at them when suddenly a flock of birds dropped out of the clear blue sky from out of sight, and in a few seconds had covered the tree!  It was a flock of Siskins, about 50 of them!!  We have never had a big flock here before, and I have not even seen this many anywhere.   There were at least 60 in total.  I was watching them about a minute as they seemed to be feeding in a frenzy, with much calling.  It was very exciting.  Then just as suddenly they all got up and flew off toward the Patuxent River and out of sight.

Timing is everything!
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD