Last winter was boring in the Maine woods. Food was abundant in Canada, so finches stayed north. I’m excited to report that this year looks very different.

The Finch Research Network issued its annual winter forecast this week, and it starts with a bang.

“It looks to be a flight year for many species in eastern Canada. With mostly very poor crops in the boreal forest from central Quebec westward to Manitoba, this has the potential of being the biggest flight year since 2020-21.”

I’m here to tell you that winter was awesome. All the northern-breeding finches flooded into Maine. At times, the chorus of finch noises was downright deafening.

The Finch Research network is a small group of Canadian biologists who share a fondness for some of the noisiest, most gregarious species on the plane

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