Chit-Chit-Chit

As many readers may know, we are in the midst of a finch irruption year, where many northern finches have been irrupting southward in search  of food.

Pretty much all of them have avoided me like the plague. 

I have gotten lucky and have had an Evening Grosbeak and White-winged Crossbill this fall, but pretty much nothing else of interest. Even Common Redpolls, which have been passing through in the thousands, have managed to elude me, and I was starting to feel like the only person to have NOT seen some. Try as I might, I could not hear their "Chit-Chit-Chit" call as they flew overhead!

On a whim, I went out today in hopes of crossing paths with some. I wasn't sure exactly where to go, but I figured west of London out near Strathroy seemed like a good spot.

Lots of Snow Buntings were around, which was nice to see, as I haven't seen any since March! There were very few of these birds around last year.

We completed a loop with no luck, and started on our way back. About ten minutes later I spied a flock of small birds fly up from a field ad into a tree. STOP THE CAR!

My suspicions were confirmed.

Common Redpolls

They eventually flew closer. A nice end to the year!