Arizona’s Feathered Winter Visitors: Finches

The Feathered Desert Podcast

Summary: Finches visit Arizona in the winter. Join Cheryl and Kiersten to find out which finches may visit us in winter.

For our hearing-impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.

Show Notes:

“Arizona’s Winter Finches,” by Charles Babbitt The Cactus Wren-Dition Winter 2023

Transcript

Cheryl-Intro

Some finch species are highly prone to irruptions-which are occasions when large numbers of birds take flight and regularly move hundreds of miles beyond their normal winter ranges in response to food scarcity especially cone and seed crop failures. Kiersten and I did a podcast last year about irruption in the bird world so check out that podcast to get more information.

In the winter of 2022-2023 was such a situation when Evening Grosbeaks, Cassin’s Finches, Red Crossbills, Pine Siskins, and Lawernce Goldfinches were reported in large, unprecedented numbers at many locations around the state of Arizona. These are the nomadic winter finches of Arizona.

Kiersten-Red Crossbills

The Red Crossbills are the oddest of the group. When you get a close look at their bill you will see what looks like a deformed beak with the lower mandible crossing under the upper mandible. This allows the crossbill o pry open tightly closed cones to extract the seeds, an evolutionary adaption that gives them access to a unique food source. Red Crossbills are resident breeders in much of Arizona’s upper elevation forests. In flight years, however, irruptions can bring roving flocks from out of the state swelling numbers in mountainous areas and sometimes bringing these boreal invaders into the lowlands such as the Phoenix Valley.

Cheryl-Pine Siskins

Pine Siskins are one of the smaller winter finches often confused with the House finch. These little birds are year-round residents in Arizona’s high country they are famous for their periodic irruptions. Movements are irregular and sporadic with birds being quite common some years and entirely absent other years.

Pine Siskins have sharp narrow bills they use to extract seeds from the cones of a variety of conifers. In winter, flocks are often seen at feeders, with the Lesser Goldfinch and the House finch, or in weedy fields. These birds are quite personable and a person can get quite close to them before they will take flight. Pine Siskins are recognized by their steaky breasts and the bright yellow markings on their wings. In flight they show a distinctive yellow wing stripe.

Kiersten-Evening Grosbeaks

Of the winter finches, Evening Grosbeaks are the most striking. These stocky birds have evolved massive cream-colored beaks which are unmistakable and which are used like nutcrackers to feed on a variety of large seeds, catkins and even small fruit pits. In northern Arizona these birds might be seen feeding in winter on Russian olive fruits and juniper berries.

Male Evening Grosbeaks are yellow and black with a distinct yellow forehead and eye brow and large white patches. Females are mostly gray with a yellowish-green collar and black and white wing markings.

In Arizona Evening Grosbeaks breed very locally in the high country. In the winter they form large noisy flocks. Like the other winter finches Evening Grosbeaks have irruptive years, and when they do these birds delight bird watchers and the bird feeding hobbyists by crowded around seed feeders to eat sunflower seeds.

Cheryl-Cassin’s Finch

Cassin’s Finches are restricted to northern Arizona mostly the regions of the Kaibab Plateau and higher elevations of the Hopi and Navajo tribal lands. In the summer you are most likely to see them in pine and mixed conifer forests on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Males are easily recognized by their bright raspberry red caps and rosy tinged faces and breasts. Females are plainer with streaked breasts.

Cassin’s finches are migratory and irruptive with great variability in distribution and abundance. In some winters they can be quite common and be found in the low foothills of the phoenix Valley.

When they are around, they visit finch feeders, often mixing with Pine Siskins, and other local finches. As spring warms the foothills you can spot these hardy finches gathered in trees where they sing incessantly.

Kiersten-Lawrence’s Goldfinches

Some years Arizona is visited by winter finches not by the north but from the west. These are Lawrence’s goldfinches, colorful birds whose breeding range is mostly the coastal ranges and foothills of the Sierra Nevada of California. There these birds occupy a variety of habitats including dry foothills, open woodlands and adjacent grasslands. In sporadic and unpredictable flight years some depart their breeding range, heading eastward in the southern part of Arizona.

Lawrence’s Goldfinches are a soft gray color with gold markings on the wings and chest. Males have black faces with contrasting pink bills while females tend to be less colorful.

Lawrence Goldfinches are seed eaters. As with the other winter finches, seed crop failures due to drought or even more recently, massive wildfires are probably the principal driver of this birds’ periodic movements into Arizona.

Cheryl-Closing

The question has been asked if scientists will ever be able to predict winter finch irruptions. Maybe. East of the Mississippi River, with the data compiled and the network of observers, the bird world enthusiasts attempt predictions of which winter finch will have a flight year. But in the west and especially the southwest with our mountainous terrain, diverse and widely separated habitats, and the lack of a network of observers, predictions are unlikely. Truly the unpredictability of the Arizona’s winter finches is what keeps the mystery and excitement in the sightings of these birds when they appear.