Restrained Migration

Despite our unusually sunny, warm, and dry weather from late March through the first week of May, spring migration seems to have gone in slow motion this year.  Or at least that's what my yard has experienced.  My first-of-the-season Orange-crowned Warbler didn't appear until mid-April (late March is more typical).  My first Rufous Hummingbird didn't show up until the third week of March - about a week later than usual - and I've seen very few hummingbirds since then.  Very strange.  However, things began to pick up in mid-April and I managed to get a few decent photos.

Mixed warbler flocks are a harbinger of spring.  And while it took a while, I was finally rewarded with a nice flock of Orange-crowned and Black-throated Gray Warblers (above) on a sunny afternoon in mid-April.  I was not only able to spend 20 minutes taking photos on my back deck, but also got some much-need Vitamin D!

If I'm lucky, I see something really cool and unexpected every spring.  Last year, it was a Swainson's Thrush that hung out for about a week, feeding on ivy berries in the neighbor's yard.  This year, it was a Townsend's Solitaire that hung out in my neighborhood for two days in late April.  Townsend's Solitaires breed in the Cascades and typically winter in Central Oregon.  However, smaller numbers winter annually in Western Oregon.  This was the first time that I've seen one in this part of the state.

This Townsend's Solitaire hung out in our walnut tree for a couple of days in late April.

An Orange-crowned Warbler forages through vegetation in the neighbor's yard.

In addition to the solitaire, other members of the thrush family have moved through the yard recently.  In the early morning of 4/21, a Hermit Thrush was observed in the magnolia tree in the backyard.  Earlier this morning, a Swainson's Thrush was seen foraging through the neighbor's mature maple trees.

Flycatchers and vireos are two other families of neotropical migrants that tend to be conspicuous during April and May.  While I was not as lucky with them as last spring, both did represent earlier this month.  My first Warbling Vireo sighting was on 5/4, a good week or so later than usual.  I never seem to get good photos of this species, as they tend to stay higher up in trees that have already leafed out.  The other migrant species of vireo that shows up during spring, Cassin's Vireo, rarely shows up to my yard.  Hammond's and Pacific-slope Flycatchers are the typical species that arrive in mid-April.  Unlike last spring, I did not spot either species in the yard.  However, early May rewarded us with a few Western Wood-pewees.  When moving through, pewees like to hawk insects from high up in the cluster of Douglas Firs and Silver Maples a couple of yards over.

A Western Wood-pewee searches for insects from high atop this maple branch

This Swainson's Thrush was foraging with a flock of 10+ Western Tanagers

Back in April, sparrow movement was very evident.  At this time of the year, White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows move out of the valley on their way to their breeding grounds.  Golden-crowned Sparrows are true migrants that breed in Western Canada and Alaska.  White-crowned Sparrow movement is a little more complex, as two different subspecies move through at this time of the year.  The local subspecies, pugetensis, is a year-round resident here.  Subspecies gambelli overwinters in the Southwest and breeds in Alaska and Western Canada.  I spotted a few gambelli White-crowned Sparrows last April, but this year was surprised to only see a single pugetensis.

A breeding plumage Golden-crowned Sparrow forages for spilled seed before moving northward.

This subspecies pugetensis White-crowned Sparrow hung around for a few days.

This White-throated Sparrow was is of two that overwintered in our neighborhood.  White-throated Sparrow numbers have increased dramatically in Western Oregon over the past decade or so.

Grosbeaks have been avoiding my feeders for some reason this year.  Black-headed Grosbeaks typically stop in for a bite when they arrive in early May.  While I've seen and head them singing in and around yard this month, they've stayed up in the trees.  Evening Grosbeaks are loud and gregarious at this time of the year.  They usually feed on the the seeds from my neighbor's maple trees.  While this year has been no different in that regard, I have not seen a single individual at my sunflower feeder.  No fun.  Hopefully that will change this fall.

A bad photo of a male Western Tanager

One of the last overwintering Varied Thrushes from mid-May.  I look forward to seeing them again in November.

Migration is just about over and the yard is becoming quiet again.  However, I will be making a few trips later this spring and will post the photos in future posts.

Birdscaping - Part II

Spring migration appears to be in slow motion right now.  We've been visited by a whopping one Rufous Hummingbird so far.  With little of interest going on, I thought I'd share some of my recent landscaping.  Last spring, I began to plant bird-friendly vegetation in my yard and chronicled this in a post last summer.  I've added much more this winter and hope that the birds will begin to reap the benefits soon.

Sugar-water feeders are a pain in the rear maintain (especially in the summer) and I wanted to introduce naive perennials that the hummers would enjoy - and that I would not have to clean twice a week!  I decided to plant a few different species of California salvia (sage) around the yard.  This included two cultivars of Salvia spathacea (Hummingbird Sage) and Salvia Clevelandii 'Alpine'.  The latter is marginal in our winter fog and thick clay, so I planted it in an 18" pot with a "cactus mix" potting soil and pea gravel.  One of my S. spathacea is beginning to grow a flower stalk, so I'm hopeful that they'll do well out here.

A young Salvia spathacea

Salvia Clevelandii 'Alpine'

Manzanita is perhaps the quintessential evergreen shrub of the West Coast.  Their winter/spring flowers are beloved by hummingbirds, and other species (such as Scrub-Jays and Black-headed Grosbeaks) eat their fruit in the late summer.  They're also very drought tolerant once established and look great year-round.  I took out the overgrown, diseased wax myrtles in our backyard and planted a Howard McMinn manzanita (Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Howard McMinn').  Unlike most manzanitas, Howard McMinn is very tolerant of summer garden water.  I confidently planted one 3' from my lawn, which gets biweekly water from June through September.  To fill a small, sloped area just off my deck, I took a gamble on a Margarita's Joy manzanita (Arctostaphylos 'Margarita's Joy').  This natural hybrid from the Centra CA coast has not been tested up here (that I know of), so it's a bit of a gamble.  It's undergone some die-back, but just may do OK after it gets established.

It took me a while to find a replacement for the area where my Sitka Mountain-ash once stood.  This area is unique in that I can get away with not watering it in the summer (the adjacent lavender needs no summer water and the adjacent grass turns brown by July regardless of how often I water it).  So this is my dry spot and I chose to take advantage with a compact shrub that would grow nowhere else on my property.  I ended up choosing a Ceanothus thyrsifluorus 'Skylark', a species of California lilac.  It's not exactly a bird magnet (though quail like the seed), but they grow fast and it'll look great in another year.

Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Howard McMinn.'  Will be about 6' x 6' in five years.

Arctostaphylos 'Margarita's Joy.'  This one will be much smaller (~3' x 2').

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 'Skylark.'  Has grown 1" or so after being planted a month ago.

I have a few berry-producing shrubs in the ground.  Most are flowering right now and will be producing berries soon...

Ribes aureum gracillimum (Golden Currant) is a profuse bloomer (even at a young age) that produces hummer-philic flowers in the early spring, and then berries that birds (and humans) enjoy later in the summer.

Vaccinium ovatum (Evergreen Huckleberry) produces very tasty berries.

 Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) grows quickly and is enjoyed by several species of birds.

Mahonia aquifolium ("Tall" Oregon Grape) in flower - berries are forthcoming.

Mahonia nervosa ("Longleaf" Oregon Grape) beginning to flower

I also have a couple of Saskatoon Serviceberries (Amelanchier alnifolia), but they're just beginning to leaf out.  I'll post photos of these later.

My one conifer is a Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana).  This is a very slow-growing species: Saplings grow about 0.5" per year, and I'm expecting 4" or so out of my 3.5' specimen this spring.  They are native to the Cascades from 4,000-7,000 ft.  They do well down here, but get nowhere near the 60-90' that they do in their native habitat.  I'm hoping that mine will put on a few inches of growth this spring, and perhaps sprout a few cones next year.  Chickadees and siskins enjoy the seeds.

Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana)

I will post another installment at the end of the spring, after these have flowered/fruited.  And who knows, perhaps I'll even get a couple of pics of interesting migrants on them!

Edit: In my haste last weekend, I forgot to thank Bert Wilson and Penny Nyunt at Las Pilitas Nursery (Santa Margarita, CA) for assisting me in the selection of California native plants that will thrive up here in the Pacific Northwest.  Their willingness to answer my (many) questions and their dedication to customer satisfaction is greatly appreciated.

Spring Has Sprung

Yes, it's been almost two months.  And as you can imagine, I've been incredibly busy lately.  In addition, yard activity has been relatively mundane up until very recently.  Thankfully, that has changed recently and the weather has also improved tremendously.  The next 6-7 weeks will bring a significant amount of migratory movement.

Winter residents, such as the Ruby-crowned Kinglet shown above, are currently on the way out.  Both species of kinglet, Varied Thrushes, and Townsend's Warblers will be close to absent a couple of weeks from now.  Yellow-rumped Warblers will slowly trickle out afterwards.  Some of these species are not really "migratory" in the traditional sense.  They overwinter in the Willamette Valley and then breed in the Cascade foothills.  Of course, other true migrants, such as White-throated and Golden-crowned Sparrows will be moving on shortly as well.  We will likely see a few "Gambel's" subspecies White-crowned Sparrows making their way from their wintering grounds in the Southeastern U.S. to their breeding grounds in Alaska and Western Canada next month.

Our first-of-the-season Rufous Hummingbird appeared last week (3/22).  (Unfortunately, I was not able to obtain a photo.)  I've seen Rufous Hummers in the yard as early as the second week of March, though one day after the third week of March is still within their normal arrival date.  In the next week or so, I expect to see our first migrant Orange-crowned Warbler.

The most interesting recent yard sighting was two Eurasian Collared-Doves (above).  This was a new yard species, though not really one to get excited about.  Eurasian Collared-Doves are invasive species and compete with natives such as Band-tailed Pigeons for food and nesting sites.  As long as the number of visting "Euro-Pigeons" remains small, I'm not going to get too worked up about it.

Golden-crowned Sparrows have been representing in relatively high numbers over the past couple of weeks.  My guess is that they're temporarily hunkering down in an area with reliable food as they're molting into breeding plumage.  After their molt, they'll move on to their breeding grounds in Alaska and Western Canada.  Our two White-throated Sparrows are also still around, also currently in molt.

This basic plumage Golden-crowned Sparrow will look like a breeding plumage GC Sparrow in a couple of weeks.

White-throated Sparrows, once rare winter migrants in this area, represented well again this winter.

Purple Finches have been a pleasant surprise this month.  They typically leave the areas in which they overwinter between February and April, before moving onto their breeding grounds in forested areas outside of the valley.  Like many finches, they're erratic visitors.  While I typically host at least one per winter season, they're far from a slam-dunk to visit.  So I was pleasantly surprised when a half dozen showed up to my sunflower feeders a couple of weeks ago.  They've been semi-regular since, with three at the feeders this morning.

A half-dozen Purple Finches at the feeders during the second week of March

Many of the regular winter visitors are still around, including Red-breasted Nuthatch, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Spotted Towhee.  Numbers of the latter have actually ticked up lately, suggesting that they're poised to move out of the urban areas soon.

A male Spotted Towhee feeds on spilled seed.

Well, that's about it for now.  I have a post in the works on native birdscaping and will post again soon (I promise!).

Merry Migration...

Winter Drags On...

Oops, it's been a month and a half since my last post!  Don't worry, you haven't missed much.  January brought us cold, dry weather with a liberal dose of freezing fog.  Needless to say, I'm not missing it and am looking forward to spring.  That said, January wasn't a complete drag...

This Yellow- x Red-shafted "hybrid" Flicker has A LOT of yellow under its wings and tail.

Northern Flickers come in two varieties (subspecies):  The "Red-shafted" Flickers that are abundant here out West and the "Yellow-shafted" subspecies that predominates East of the Rockies.  Red-shafted Flickers have salmon coloring underneath their wings and tail feathers, no coloring on the nape (back of the head), and the males have a red malar stripe ("moustache").  Yellow-shafted Flickers have yellow coloring underneath their wings and tail feathers, a red mark on the nape, and the males have a black malar stripe.  The two subspecies interbreed in the Mountain West (hybrids are easy to find in Central and Eastern Oregon) and many of these individuals winter West of the Cascades.  Hybrid flickers are common out here in the winter, and the vast majority of them look like Red-shafted Flickers with light red marks on their napes (see photo below).  Their plumage implies that they have more Red-shafted "blood" than Yellow-shafted (though that's not necessarily true).  So I was very surprised to see the individual pictured above, with very bright yellow underparts and a relatively strong red mark on the nape.  It basically looks like a male Yellow-shafted Flicker with a red malar stripe.

This is more typical of the "hybrid" flickers that we see in Western Oregon.  The red mark on the nape is fainter and the coloring under the wings and tail (not shown) is salmon.

Over the past month and a half, Townsend's Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets have become much more frequent in the yard.  This usually happens at this time of the year, as natural food sources begin to run thin.  I have no doubt that the overnight lows in the low-to-mid 20's that we experienced in mid-January were a major factor.  At least two Townsend's Warblers and one (male) Ruby-crowned Kinglet are regulars at the suet feeders.

A male Townsend's Warbler hunkers down in one of the wax-myrtle shrubs.

Robins, Varied Thrushes, and European Starlings have also been very regular in the yard recently.  This is also about normal for this time of the season.  Starlings tend to roam urban areas in large flocks in the early winter, and the other two species tend to loosely associate.  I tend to not host many robins, so it's been nice to see them over the past few weeks.

This male Varied Thrush has transitioned its died from apples to sunflower chips.

A robin snacks on apples in the freezing fog.

Sparrow numbers have tailed off since November and December, but I'm still hosting two White-throated Sparrows.  The tan-striped morph is the most prevalent of the two.  Song Sparrows are spotty, I have yet to see my first White-crowned Sparrow, and I haven't hosted a Fox Sparrow since last May.  But I am still seeing the occasional Golden-crowned Sparrow.  And, of course, juncos are omnipresent.

Our resident tan-striped morph White-throated Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrows have become less frequent visitors since December.

One of the stranger things about this winter is the lack of American Goldfinches and House Finches.  The latter haven't been around since mid-December and I think I've hosted the former once since mid-November.  On the other hand, Lesser Goldfinch and Pine Siskin numbers have been on the rise over the past month.  (Most likely owning to the less frequent visits from the local Cooper's Hawks.)  An adult male Purple Finch was observed way up in one of the neighbor's Silver Maples a couple of weeks ago, and I observed a female Evening Grosbeak high atop a 100' Douglas Fir a few yards over later that week.  But neither visited a feeder.  I expect to see more Purple Finches in late March and April, as they begin moving into their breeding areas in the coniferous forests outside of town.  Evening Grosbeaks are always a crapshoot.  They tend to leave town in May, though I would have a reasonable chance of seeing a small flock next weekend.

A small flock of Lesser Goldfinches energies on a cold January morning.

This female Evening Grosbeak was calling from high atop a Douglas Fir, but never came down to the feeders.

We've been fortunate in a number of ways this winter.  Red-breasted Nuthatches are one of my favorites and they were very sporadic last winter.  So I'm very happy to report that RB Nuthatches have become bona-fide regulars.  Same goes for Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

Interestingly, a couple of regulars from last winter have also become more sporadic this year.  Spotted Towhees have been in short supply since the beginning of the year and Bewick's Wren numbers have been overall since the early fall.

This Bewick's Wren was a pleasant mid-January surprise.  I took this photo through a dirty window, one-handed, while talking to my mother on the phone.  Not bad, considering.

This very young female Anna's Hummingbird has been visiting the nectar feeder since at least November.

As I mentioned in my last post, a very young female Anna's Hummingbird has been visiting my nectar feeder since at least November.  This confused me a bit, since Anna's Hummers typically breed in February and March.  By this time of the year, young females should have a well-defined red gorget (throat) patch and tail feathers that extend beyond their wing tips.  The individual shown above is almost certainly less than 6 months old.  I didn't realize that Anna's Hummers were opportunistic enough to breed late in the summer.  Thanks to Alan Contreras and Stephanie Hazen for this information.

Well, that's it for now.  I hope to see a Fox Sparrow and possibly something rather exotic like a Red Crossbill or Mountain Chickadee later this month.  Until then...

A Hawk-induced Lull

The late-November wave of fall migrants has finally subsided and the yard is in something of a lull at this point.  This happens every December, but this year it has been exasperated by the presence of not one, but TWO Cooper's Hawks in the neighborhood.  We had very high numbers of Pine Siskins (flocks of up to 80) from October through late November and this undoubtedly attracted the local accipiters.  A large mature female Cooper's has been in the area since at least last November, and I was somewhat surprised to see an immature Cooper's in the neighborhood early last week.  I was able to get a good, long look (and photographs) of this individual on Saturday.  My guess is that it's an immature male, as it's no larger than a crow.  (This individual is noticeably smaller than our regular mature female, and male accipiters are smaller in size than females.)  However, it's also possible that it's a hatch-year bird that hasn't reached its full size yet.  So who knows.  Anyway, it's cool to have two Cooper's Hawks in the neighborhood, even if they occasionally scare some of the other birds off.

This mature female Cooper's Hawk was recently joined by...

...this immature Cooper's Hawk.  Both are busy attempting to make meals of juncos and siskins.

While the presence of hawks has kept some of the regulars away recently (woodpeckers, in particular), life has otherwise marched on.  Winter sparrows have begun to filter in nicely over the past month.  Three to four Golden-crowned Sparrows been visiting semi-regularly over the past two weeks.  The first Song Sparrow in at least a month appeared briefly last weekend.  Interestingly, we are still hosting two White-throated Sparrows (one of each morph type).  While White-throated Sparrows are common winter feeder birds over much of the Eastern two thirds of the country, they were considered "uncommon" to very uncommon" in Western Oregon up until recently.  Oregon Christmas Bird Count data from 1990 to 2000 showed a significant increase in reports.  Even after adjusting for increased CBC participation over this time, the number of birds reported per count hour has approximately doubled over that time period.  I've hosted two in each of the past two winters and at least one in three of the past four winters.  Many others in Western Oregon have also reported WT Sparrows at their feeding stations.  I would say that their winter status in this part of the state is now more like "uncommon to locally abundant in preferred habitat."  WT Sparrows are particularly conspicuous at this time of the year because they readily use feeders in urban areas.  Interestingly, I have no yard sightings of the supposedly more common White-crowned Sparrow this winter season.

These white-striped morph (above) and tan-striped morph (below) White-throated Sparrows have been regulars at the feeders for the past couple of weeks.

The other regular member of the sparrow family, the Spotted Towhee, has also been regular since October.  At least one male and female are at the feeders daily.

Other regulars have included Red-breasted Nuthatches, a species that was very spotty last winter.  They are one of my favorites and I've really enjoyed their presence.  The fruits of the neighbor's large apple tree, which the local Cedar Waxwings inexplicably ignored back in October, have attracted a handfull of Varied Thrushes and at least one Townsend's Warbler. These species both tend to stick around for the course of the winter to eat suet and other traditional bird food, but they're content to exploit natural food sources at this point.  Yellow-rumped Warblers (both subspecies, but primarily "Myrtles") are also here regularly, feeding on both suet and the berries of our wax-myrtle shrubs.  (Sadly for them, I plan to remove these overgrown wax-myrtles this spring.  Hopefully they don't hold it against me.)  Ruby-crowned Kinglets have been semi-regular over the past few weeks, and I've seen their Golden-crowned cousins more often than usual over the same time period.  Chestnut-backed Chickadees, always somewhat erratic, can be found at the feeders every now and again.

This male Spotted Towhee is one of at least two individuals who regularly feed on the cracked corn that I sprinkle on the ground.

A "Myrtle" subspecies Yellow-rumped Warbler stops in for some wax-myrtle berries.

Species that we've seen less of than usual include Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, House Finch, and Bewick's Wren.  (Though I often hear Bewick's Wrens singing from the tops of trees in the neighborhood when we get a rare interval of sunshine.)  We have not been visited by an Evening Grosbeak since early November and no Purple Finches have visited since spring.

This hatch-year female Anna's Hummingbird appears to have a shorter-than-usual tail.  At first, I thought that it may have been a female Calliope.

Last week, we welcomed a new yard bird: a Pacific Wren.  It was traveling with a mixed flock with a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Chestnut-backed Chickadees.  I saw it briefly in the neighbor's ivy patch and it was gone by the time that I got my hands on a camera.

Well, that's it for now.  I hope to continue to enjoy what we're currently hosting, and I hope to also see a couple of new species.  Have a Merry Christmas (or Happy Hanukkah, or whatever you celebrate) and I'll see you next year.

Winter Birds in Full Force

We've just emerged from a four-day series of winter storms that dumped more than 4" of rain on us.  So much for that drier-than-usual fall.  Accompanying this typical winter weather has been our typical array of winter birds, some in higher-than-expected numbers.

Varied Thrushes, such as the female shown above, breed in higher-elevation coniferous forests and become opportunistic foragers in the fall and winter.  For numerous reasons (some of which are not well understood), they often invade the lowlands in October and usually make an appearance in urban areas at this time of the year.  It's not uncommon for them to not show up at feeders until December or January (or not at all).  The individual shown above was one of two that were feeding on the abundant apples still hanging from our neighbor's tree.  (Apples that the local Cedar Waxwings strangely left almost untouched last month.)  When the apples run out, I'm sure that these individuals will begin foraging underneath the feeders.

We've been very lucky with Evening Grosbeaks over the past copule of years.  Even more erratically opportunistic than Varied Thrushes, Evening Grosbeaks were (apparently) forced into the lowlands in late 2010 due to a poor conifer seed crop in the Cascades.  For whatever reason, they have been conspicuous in the area in the fall/winter and occasional feeder visitors.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a lone female (below) at the feeders a couple of weeks ago, and have heard small flocks flying overhead in the early mornings over the past week.  Hopefully we'll get another strong showing of them at the feeders this winter.

This female Evening Grosbeak was a pleasant early November surprise

One of four migrant Golden-crowned Sparrows that enjoyed a pre-storm feast last weekend

While Evening Grosbeaks are my favorite winter visitor, I also look forward to the influx of migrant winter sparrows in the fall.  With the exception of Song Sparrows and Spotted Towhees, most members of the sparrow family do not nest in the area and can only be reliably spotted in the urban lowlands between October and May.  One of the more prominent is the Golden-crowned Sparrow.  Golden-crowned Sparrows breed in Alaska and Western Canada, and then invade the Pacific Coast in the fall.  There are winters where I do not host them until March or later, but I've been lucky so far this winter season.  The first showed up in late September and I had an unusual four in the yard last weekend.  Interestingly, I'm also currently hosting a White-throated Sparrow.  White-throats are common winter residents in much of the Eastern portion of the country, but the wintering population out here is comparatively small.  Despite this, they've recently become one of my most common sparrows over the past couple of winters, surpassing the more regionally-numerous White-crowned Sparrow and even the very common Song Sparrow.  I have no idea why this is, but am not complaining.

Also in the "unusual" department, a Steller's Jay hung around the neighborhood for at least the first half of November.  Steller's Jays can be found in the coniferous hills on the outskirts of town year-round, but are relatively rare in urban areas in the summer and tend to be transient in these areas outside of the breeding season.  I typically see one or two go through the yard in September or October, and that's it.  So seeing two in September and hosting one for two weeks in November was definitely out of the ordinary.

This Steller's Jay hung around the neighborhood for the first half of November

The presence of Ruby-crowned Kinglets in the yard typically means that winter is upon us

When you see the "usual" flock of chickadees and bushtits at the time of the year, it's a good idea to grab the binoculars and look for accompanying warblers and kinglets.  Late November is when I typically see a flock of Ruby- and Golden-crowned Kinglets forage through the yard.  They came a week early this year.  GC Kinglets are notoriously difficult to photograph, as they are tiny, constantly moving, and tend to forage relatively high up in trees.  I typically have better luck with RC Kinglets (above), though they're not easy subjects either. With this mixed flock, a Townsend's Warbler was also observed foraging high up in one of the neighbor's Douglas Firs.  At least one Yellow-rumped Warbler (a migrant Myrtle subspecies individual) has been hanging around the yard for the past month or so - mostly hawking insects, eating berries from my wax-myrtle shrubs, and occasionally picking at suet.

As far as "regular" yard visitors go, Pine Siskins have been out in full force.  Between 60 and 80 have been at the feeders over the past two weekends.  These numbers are about twice what I typically experience during the winter season.  However, other finches have been either absent or in very low numbers.  Over the past few weeks, I've been able to count the number of House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches at the feeders on one hand.  And I'm not sure if I've seen an American Goldfinch since October.

Thankfully, other species are representing in usual or higher-than-usual numbers.  I'm seeing more Dark-eyed Juncos (12-18) than usual.  Red-breasted Nuthatches are frequent, with the more elusive Chestnut-back Chickadees being erratic, but still around.  Woodpeckers (both Downy and Flicker) are also regular weekend visitors.  And after taking a seeming leave of absence last month, Anna's Hummingbirds are very frequent once again.

This immature male Anna's Hummingbird is one of at least three that frequents the nectar feeder

One of just a few House Finches that have been frequenting the feeders this fall

Given what I've heard regionally, this winter appears to be our best shot of seeing a Red Crossbill or Mountain Chickadee at the feeders.  The latter has been popping up at numerous feeders in Western Oregon recently.  I'll keep my fingers crossed!