Superflight 2007-2008

written by Drew Weber

As posted on BirdChat-

We are experiencing the biggest winter finch irruption since the"superflight" of 1997-1998, when many boreal finches went well beyondtheir normal ranges. The cause is the largest tree seed crop failurein a decade across more than 3200 km (2000 mi) of boreal forest fromSaskatchewan into Quebec. Today in Toronto, I had a Pine Grosbeak,Evening Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, Pine Siskins and Purple Finchesmigrating along the shoreline of Lake Ontario. Boreal winter finchesare being reported in many areas of southern Ontario and the UnitedStates, where some species such as Pine and Evening Grosbeaks haven'tbeen seen in years. There is no telling how far south this"superflight" will go.

Winter Finch Forecast 2007-2008 is stored at two sites.

http://www.ofo.ca/reports%20and%20articles/winterfinches.php

http://ca.geocities.com/larry.neily AT rogers.com/pittaway-new.htm

Ron Pittaway