Birders, The number of reports in Michigan of European Goldfinch has increased significantly in the last 3-4 years to the point that our records committee has decided not to review them for now, but to simply continue collecting the records (4-5 in spring 2003 alone), and this past spring a well-marked Eurasian Siskin was at Whitefish Point in the Upper Peninsula. Illinois and Wisconsin (Indiana too?) initially started reporting some of these birds a few years ago, in addition to European Greenfinch, and even a Linnet. There might even have been a Chaffinch or two but I don't remember for certain. >From what I remember, it was well known that there was a bird dealer in the Chicago area that handled all these species, and while it was never verified (the dealer never admitted any birds got away), it was strongly suspected that this was the origin of these birds.
In light of this, records in the Thunder Bay area make sense to me, though the one in Hearst is a little harder to explain. But, clearly a bunch of these birds, particularly European Goldfinches, have been wandering around the Great Lakes for a few years now. There was a European Goldfinch near me in Dearborn, Michigan, two winters ago when the temperature was lingering around 0-10 Farenheit for weeks, so some of them can survive Michigan winters, which are generally harsher than in the UK but similar to northern continental Europe. Allen Chartier [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1442 West River Park Drive Inkster, MI 48141 Website: http://www.amazilia.net Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet/index.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Nicholas Escott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "ontbirds" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, June 25, 2004 9:36 PM Subject: Re: [Ontbirds]Chaffinch > Gidday Nick! > > Am very interested to here your report of European goldfinches in the > Thunder Bay area this spring. I too have heard of 2 over here in the Hearst > area in May also. > > One just east of Hearst at a birdfeeder, and one in Oba (small village about > an hours drive south of Hearst), also at a birdfeeder. Both observers had a > very long look at their rare visitors. > > Hearst is a small community of 6000 located on TransCanada Highway 11, 6 > hours north of North Bay and 6 hours east of Thunder Bay. > > I would appreciate any insight you get out of this or your posting Nick. > Thanks. :-) > > Marc Johnson > Lot 10 Concession 7 Kendall Twp > Hearst ONT., > P0L 1N0 > > _______________________________________________ > ONTBIRDS mailing list > [email protected] > To join or leave ONTBIRDS visit > http://mailman.hwcn.org/mailman/listinfo/ontbirds > ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm
