"I used to see dozens of finches at my feeders all winter long," writes Patti, a frequent visitor to a popular nature website, "but I haven't seen one in ages now. What am I doing wrong?!!"
"Blame it on the cats," spits Linda after reading Patti's plea on the message board. "There are too many cats roaming around at night. The birds they don't kill, they scare away."
"Pesticides," counters Marvin. "I blame it on the pesticides."
"No," insists Rihannah, "it's probably diseases spread by dirty feeders. When is the last time you replaced your bird feeders?"
Everyone, it seems has an answer that accounts for Patti's lack of backyard finches this winter: global warming, poor gardening choices, habitat degradation, declining global finch populations, soaring raptor populations, an overabundance of egg-eating tree squirrels.
In truth, each and every one of these things can cause a decline in local finch populations. Keep your feeders clean, keep cats and squirrels under control, avoid unnecessary pesticide use and make some wise gardening choices and you will certainly see more finches in your yard than someone who does none of these things.
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But there is nothing you or Patti or any individual can do to create the conditions necessary for a major irruption in the winter finch population in Calgary. Dramatic changes such as these are entirely dependent on annual weather patterns.
Some of our backyard finches stay here all year round -- House Finches dipped head first in raspberry red, mottled brownish Pine Siskins with subtle yellow flashes and, of course, the ubiquitous House Sparrow, a weaver finch from the Old World now conquering the New. Regardless of regional weather patterns, you can count on seeing some of these birds at your feeders all winter long.
Others, like the brilliant yellow American Goldfinch or the mysterious and elusive Purple Finch, are migratory and come here only for the summer. Every winter, a few of these summer finches hang on into January or February. Most die before spring returns, but the odd one makes it through.
But the other group, the group we know as our winter finches, are highly nomadic seed specialists who roam the continent looking for areas with plentiful crops of spruce cones. Their presence in Calgary in any given winter, therefore, is highly dependent upon the weather during the preceding summer.
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Redpolls, the "little brown jobs" with the bright red spots on their crowns, chattering Crossbills and the enormous Grosbeaks known to some as winter Robins, tend to show up in Calgary in large numbers during those winters that follow intensely hot summers.
Finches follow droughts. Even Pine Siskins, who are always around in small numbers, will suddenly appear at backyard feeders in massive chattering clouds during a winter that follows a summer drought. That is nature's way.
© Brent Johner. Originally published in Calgary Gardening, March/April 2006. Reprint rights available. $9.95 CDN. Non-exclusive.
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