Column: Those birds you see every year, now absent, probably moved to find food

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 21, 2021

The most important factor for a bird’s survival in winter is the availability of food, and some years we’ll see different species move large distances because of food scarcities. This is often referred to as an irruption, much like we saw with pine siskins this past fall when they descended on feeders by the dozens, if not hundreds. Most of those kept moving south as they searched for seed crops to support them. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox