I have actually seen a decrease in the number of House Finches at my feeders here in Logan. I have been doing my feeder watch for the winter since the first of November and have observed an average of about 7 House Finches to an average of 15 Pine Siskins at any given time. High count for Pine Siskins this year at my feeders has been 35 in one area. The number of Pine Siskins has increased since last winter at my feeders. Just from my observations, the Pine Siskin are much more aggressive than the House Finches, driving them off both the thistle seed and black sunflower seed feeders. I have also seen about the same number of American Goldfinch as the House variety. Please note that these numbers are only what I record as I watch my feeders every weekend, within half hour periods.
Other feeder surprise birds have been 2 Mountain Chickadees and 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches (one of the
nuthatches was taken by a cat, keep your cats inside!), that have been frequenting my feeders since the middle of October.
Juncos are present, but not at the level I have seen them in years past. Black-capped Chickadee numbers have been down. Downy Woodpeckers are now showing up as well as Magpies and Northern Flickers.
I did get a single Brown Creeper 2 days ago at one of my suet feeders.
Stephen Peterson
Logan, UT