shortage, too, and also by bumper crops of seeds in forests to the north. Relatively high numbers of several migrant finches — such as common redpolls, pine grosbeaks, and white-winged crossbills —a re typical in north central Washington in January and February. That’s based on records compiled from 2015-spring 2022 on eBird, an online crowdsourcing database created by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (and summarized by the North Central Washington Audubon Society’s Bruce McCammon at https:// ncwaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/eBird_Insights_v1.8_ ONLINE.pdf. Finches, with their powerful conical bills, are seed eaters. White-winged crossbills are likely to benefit from a huge crop of white spruce in the West, with eastern birds heading this direction. A similar pattern may hold for redpolls; although production of their favored seeds, such as alder and birch, has been just average in the West, it was low in the East, which may incline birds to come our way. Pine grosbeaks may also be drawn to the West. In addition to seeds, they seek fruit in winter. Mountain-ash is a favorite, and is reportedly producing much better in the west than in the eastern U.S. Since it blooms and sets fruit relatively late in the year, it may not have been affected by the spring conditions that hurt other berry crops. Other winter visitors who favor mountain-ash fruit are Bohemian waxwings, who travel in groups that often number several hundred birds. The flocks tend to settle in, clean out the food supply in an area over the course of several days,
Photo by Steve Mitchell and then move on. With their neat plumage, striking coloration, and gentle, persistent calls, they’re fun to observe, especially when a flock turns in unison and reveals hundreds of bright yellow tail bands in a flash of color against the winter sky.
UNDER THE SNOW Also active in winter are residents of the subnivium, a world beneath the snow. The shallow space between earth and snow is a relatively stable environment,
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