Notes on winter
Let's embrace the season.
It’s been a good winter for American Robins locally. There’s probably a scientific reason for this, but all I know is that I’ve found concentrations of robins throughout the city and suburbs. Discussing robins in winter has long been a hobby horse for me. In one of the first posts for Ye Olde Substacke, I spoke with Bob Fisher about robins. No one has seen more robins in Chicagoland winter than Bob. In winter, robins subsist on berries; the ones we see here are likely birds that breed much farther north—note that robins breed north of the Arctic Circle!
Further, you might recall the time robins invaded the Back 40 thanks to a grub outbreak a couple years ago:
As if on cue, Northern Cardinals began singing on February 1. Cardinals are already staking out territory, and you may see several males fighting amongst themselves for breeding space, even in February. A subtle sign that spring is on the way. A cardinal belting out a song before dawn gives one hope in this gloomiest month. Five years ago I wrote:
Starlings come in murmurations, crows in murders, and magpies in a parliament. It doesn’t appear there’s an official term for a flock of cardinals. But If there was such a term for cardinals, for me it would be an appreciation.
In the handful of years I’ve been birding the Lake Border Upland, I can count only a couple of observations of a Pine Siskin. These small finches are a sort of nomadic species, especially in the East. They chase after seed crops, and truly delight in the catkins high in mature trees. This winter has been a good one for siskins in this corner of the Upper Midwest. I had to do a double-take when I heard their buzzy, rising zrrreeee call at a favorite winter spot for passerines. Then, on the same day, a careful study of my feeder yielded a siskin in among the goldfinches. They have been regular here for several weeks now.
It’s easy to want to wish this month of the birding season away. Instead, why not embrace it? The woods are quiet as are the prairie paths and lakefront breakwalls.
My kind of music
Congress of Starlings enthralled the crowd on February 6 at the legendary Old Town School of Folk Music. The local indie favorites, led by birder Aerin Tedesco, sang and strummed their way through songs about shrikes, ravens, ovenbirds, and, of course, Piping Plovers (full disclosure: their original song “The Gift” appeared in my “Monty and Rose” films). A vocal contingent of Piping Plover monitors in the audience made it known that this was music for birders by birders. Their new album, “Orphans,” is available via Bandcamp. It includes “The Gift” and songs like “O Peregrine” and “Ravensong.” The song “Outside Chance” appeared in the feature-length “The World of Monty and Rose.” Kudos also to opening act Modern Drugs, from Champaign-Urbana, which rocked the house with power pop and hook-laden rock.
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Lucky you! I’ve had a consistent flock of about 20 goldfinches all winter this year, the most ever. Every time I glance at the Niger feeder I look at every single bird, hoping to find a siskin. Not yet, not this year, there’s still time! I love that flash of yellow in their wings, and their squabbling! Thanks for sharing yours.