As the days get shorter and colder, the summer birds leave for warmer areas. Replacing them are birds arriving from the north. Winter finches and others make the Toronto area their southern vacation spot. It’s a more hospitable place to spend their winter, with less snow and more food available, especially if food crops have failed up north. In Toronto, there are bird feeders, ornamental fruit trees, and evergreens full of cones. Here are some of the avian visitors that are starting to arrive now.

Redpoll

When we still lived in our house, my feeders attracted winter finches. I would have large flocks of Redpolls, squabbling over my nyger feeder. Shoving their way in for the seeds would be a few Pine Siskins, as well.

Male White-winged Crossbill

Red Crossbills and White-winged Crossbills descend on our parks, searching for cone-bearing trees.

Male Pine Grosbeak

Another winter wanderer is the Pine Grosbeak. They can often be found feeding on crabapple trees, which people have in their yards.

Evening Grosbeaks (male, pictured at top of article) will visit feeders in large, noisy flocks, and will quickly empty them.

Snow Bunting

When winter birding, we also check out farm fields. The leftover corn attracts Snow Bunting, Horned Lark, and, if we’re lucky, Lapland Longspur.

Seeing these feathered nomads, which don’t appear every year, is a winter treat for local birders.

Note: All photos are from Wikipedia Commons, an online source of copyright-free photos: Evening Grosbeak by Velo Steve on Flickr; Redpoll (in Toronto) by Mykola Swarnyk; White-winged Crossbill by John Harrison; Pine Grosbeak by Bill Bouton; Snow Bunting by Cephas.