[SBB] Pine Siskin Incursion (early summary)

[Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>]

Dear Folks,

I'll give a summary of the incursion, although I don't think it is quite 
over yet.

Ann Verdi had a very interesting juvenile at Alamitos and Hicks roads on 13 
Sep, but I don't think this is related.  The first real sign of an 
incursion was when Garth Harwood found about 25 birds at the sag pond at 
Monte Bello on 11 Oct.  That this was a big movement was apparent when 
Garth counted 315 birds moving across Page Mill at Monte Bello on 25 
Oct.  The first report of feeder birds was of four to five at Tom Grey's 
feeder at Stanford on 30 Oct.

In November, birders started to find large numbers locally.  On 13 Nov, 
Barbara Harkleroad reported 20 at her feeder in the Almaden Valley and this 
was the first double-digit number at a feeder.  On 21-23 Nov, both Al 
Eisner and Dave Weber tallied 100 bird counts at Monte Bello.  That birds 
were more widespread was indicated by a total of 55 by Steve Rottenborn at 
Henry Coe SP on 25 Nov (they were never as plentiful there as the crossbills).

By December, Linda Sullivan's generous feeders at Rinconada Hills (Los 
Gatos) started pulling in the double-digit numbers and she had 22 on 8 Dec 
(see the March numbers to see how these birds lasted).  Lots of other 
people in the valley reported smaller numbers, often in the twos and fours, 
but very widespread.  This month was the CBC season and the Palo Alto count 
had ~500 total (Al Eisner) and Calero-Morgan Hill had 300+ (Ann 
Verdi).  Some notable concentrations included some 60 off Alamitos Road on 
13 Dec that Ann found, 73 in the vicinity of Los Trancos and the Palo Alto 
G&CC on 20 Dec (Al Eisner, Grant Hoyt), more than a hundred at Charleston 
Road Marsh on 24 Dec (Steve Rottenborn, David Lewis), and 69 near San 
Felipe and Las Animas roads on the east side of the valley (Mike Rogers.).

January brought about the last of our CBCs on 2 Jan for Mt. Hamilton.  The 
"Mikes" (Rogers and Mammoser) found 28 birds in the Isabel Valley, deep in 
the interior of the Diablo Range.  Feeders continued to produce: generous 
Linda had 30+ birds on 3 Jan.  Other good counts were of ~75 birds at Casa 
de Fruta on 14 Jan (David Suddjian).

Peak counts of birds in February dropped a little, possibly because of the 
"ho-hum" factor, but still, from a long-term perspective, pretty 
good!  Kris Olson had 20 at Monte Bello on 5 Feb and Ann Verdi had 80 at 
Twin Creeks on 6 Feb.  Linda Sullivan's feeder was still pulling them in 
with 40+ on 25 Feb at Rinconada Hills.

March seemed to show a definite reduction in large tallies of birds.  Peggy 
Don had 15 birds at Stevens Creek CP on 2 Mar and Garth Harwood had 42 at 
Monte Bello OSP on 7 Mar.  But the feeder birds continued.  Gordon Barrett 
had 42 birds at his Saratoga feeder on 19 Mar and Linda Sullivan still had 
15-20 birds still at her on 31 Mar (that is why I say the incursion is not 
quite over).

I really appreciate all the contributions to SBB on Pine Siskins, both with 
regular observations and feeder records.  All of you who sent in your 2s, 
4s, 8s are also greatly appreciated--please don't think you are not.  And a 
special thank you to all of you who provided estimated numbers instead of 
reporting the (yuck) "few" or "lots" or "many" birds.

It may seem to some recent birders that this is a lot of time and attention 
to spend on one small, feisty bird (at my feeders they will NOT yield to 
the House Finches!).  But in keeping records over the last 25 years, we 
have never had an incursion like this.  This is really quite 
something.  And let's not forget that Alvaro is the one who pointed out 
that they have this weird
Pygmy Nuthatch sound--with any luck, we may learn a lot about where these 
birds came from in the next few months.  Thanks again for your contributions.

Bill Bousman
Santa Clara County records compiler 

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