just the opposite here this winter. have been overrun with pine siskins and lots of juncos and chickadees but just a few of the bigger birds. crazy weather and different every week. Below zero back around the holidays and some nasty snow storms then a week of rain and warmer temps with lots of melting and then snow showers again. and this week dry with nights in the teens and days in the 30's and 40's days. Not much snow left on the ground here but snow showers forcast for the weekend.

No decline here in Southeast MA - usually I only see a few juncos in the winter but this year there's a flock of 10 to 15 every day. A lot by our standards. I did talk to someone on Cape Cod who complained that he only had a few this year which was unusual.

Claire

I have fewer juncos this year than last. My feeder is taken over by various finches. The chickadees have stopped coming also. There were a few in early fall but they don't seem to like the finches. (western NC)

I talked with my seed supplier, and he said that his customer are actually reporting more Junco's due to the cold weather. He suggest that perhaps I have a lot of cats and hawks, but I don't think that is the case.

One possibility is that I have a lot of house sparrows and tree sparrows this winter. Perhaps there's too much competition.

Paul

I see the juncos mostly under the nyjer socks where I also broadcast extra nyjer seed for birds that like this. Juncos and native sparrows particularly like the nyjer (and turkeys). I don't put regular seed mix there so the House Sparrows tend to eat at other feeders.

Claire

I don't mean to say that House Sparrows don't like nyjer, they do, it's just that they seem to prefer the regular seed mix (with sunflower seed, etc.).

Claire

Unfortunately, it's really hard to deter house sparrows. They eat everything. I am trying to use a ring at the moment. We'll see how well that works.

I do see a few Junco's but they seemed to be mixed in with tree sparrows. Last year, there were a lot more.

Paul

I'm just now starting to see the junco's and chickadees here. (extreme southeast Missouri) And a few titmice. I've had lots of cardinals and doves and of course the sparrows.

Here where I live in scPA, I have juncos most of the time right now. Today I saw more juncos than anything else. We're inbetween snow/ice storm systems today and I was checking to see what was out in my feeder and my neighbor's feeders. Unfortunately, I have house sparrows but they are mostly at my neighbor's feeders cuz she feeds them a mixed feed. I try to stick to boss or a mix of boss and some nuts. We're not that overrun by h.sparrows at the moment, however.

Saw them earlier this fall but not much since. Though I have to rely on home made suet/meal/cereal recipes as money is sooooo tight now.

I have seen a few this week, likely due to Texas extreme (for us) cold and wintry weather. Last year there were quite a few more juncos under the feeders.

Not one junco yet to be seen at my house (west central Ohio) this year. They are usually the most numerous bird at my feeders. I thought it might be from the many cats around here, but there have always been cats around. I wouldn't think the numbers would go from many to none that quickly. My grandmother lives about 8 miles from here and she hasn't seen any this year either.

I have pretty much the same junco count as last winter here in SE MA. Last year was unusually snowy and cold, while this year is much warmer and mostly snow-free, so it's not the weather (for us, anyway). Hawks and cats are always around.

Claire

I have quite a few Junco's showing up here in CO (foothills of the Front Range). Since I am new to birding, I saw Junco's but never saw them feeding at my tube feeder or suet basket. After observing them kicking up snow on the ground, I finally did some research and found they were ground feeders. I spread some seed on the ground and now they go to town. I love learning about the habits of birds and how to attract them - this is definitely an infinite hobby of wonder!

I am seeing the usual amount of Juncoes - a small flock that inhabits my yard and the thickets across the street. Probably about a dozen of them.

As for numbers of other birds, there have been hardly any House Sparrows this year (yeah!), a few more Starlings than usual eating the raw suet and pooping out bittersweet berries (not good), ZERO Blue jays, which has me worried, and about a dozen eastern Bluebirds, maybe more! Yipppeeee!

I guess it varies from year to year.

Lots and lots of Junco's here. Usually they come in the Fall for a few weeks and then leave and come back early Spring, but this year they have stayed. We've had an unusually warm Winter, a few below zero days around Christmas but the rest of the Winter has been mild with very little snow. I'm zone 3, Northern Minnesota.

Lots of Juncos here in my yard, in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.