Yes, it's reasonable that house finches and pine siskins are around your area, and that they spend the winter. My sister has had house finches at their place in the Saskatoon area, year-round, for the last 15(?) years, likely more (and breeding records a few years after they started showing up). For the first time, we've had house finches here for a sustained period and they nested successfully in our neighborhood - will have to keep an eye out to see if they winter. Regardless of the mixed opinions the birding world has of their spread, it sure is nice to have colorful birds around that sing year-round, not just in the courting season. Pine siskins kind of come and go - they are around all summer and most winters here, but we didn't notice any last winter. Chickadees are always reliable! You didn't mention them, but I'm sure you have them. You can also expect redpolls at some time during the winter, especially if there is a lot of snow in the north, and they are pushed south to feed - keep an eye out for hoary redpolls among them (extremely short-billed, "frosty" birds). When a flock of redpolls shows up, you'll go broke keeping the niger feeders full, LOL! Siskins also tend to favor niger, so I'm surprised they're not pigging out. Also, evening grosbeaks - they seem to be especially attracted to lilac seeds (lots of lilac hedges in small towns in Sask!), and will eat sunflower. Other likely possibilities are pine grosbeaks, red crossbills, white-winged crossbills, particularly if there are any groves of spruce around - these tend to be roaming, and will come and go. Re. other regulars at your feeders, you can probably expect to see white-breasted or red-breasted nuthatches or both, and downy and hairy woodpeckers are a given. The odd flicker that winters over (quite common here) may also show up. They all like suet and peanut/peanut butter feeders. Blue jays also like peanuts...and if you put out unroasted peanuts, will bury them all over (no big deal and which we actually found kind of fun - it caused me to learn what peanut plants look like, LOL!) We haven't really had great success with putting fruit out in winter - though my sister finds it to be wildly popular in spring with the migrating songbirds when late storms hit. (She's also have had great results with fresh fruit and melon through the summer for orioles, robins, cedar waxwings, catbirds, warblers.) By the way, most of these "nonmigratory" birds don't have distinctly different plumages between adults and immatures (unlike, say, warblers and some of the other summer migrants) - so identification will be a little easier for a while. Female and immature house sparrows can always be distinguished by their, shall I say, lack of distinguishing characteristics? They are large, have that distinctive conical bill shape, and otherwise are just kind of...grey-brown. With more observation, I'm sure you'll be able to pick them out of any...

I did not see a hummer the last 2 days, so I thought this was it for me. Well, a hummer stopped to feed at 6:30 pm tonight, feeding for a full minute, then came back a few minutes later for a few seconds. She fed at my window feeder, and was plump. Her wings were fluttering the whole time she was feeding. Does this indicate she was in a hurry to travel on? I saw my last hummer last year on Oct. 19th. I must report that my husband and I are moving to another location in a couple of weeks. We will remain in Baton Rouge, and I am so concerned that I will not have hummers next year. I wish I could send my regulars a change of address!

Pixie Lou, I love those pond shots. You get such a range of critters visiting, and the green heron is especially nice. It has finally warmed up enough that Jane's least favorite critters are emerging in my garden, the snakes. I found a small (8") red-bellied snake that ended up in some grass clippings I moved to the compost after we hayed the lawn between rain showers. I was surprised to find him in the bottom of the garden cart, and tipped him out before I thought to photograph him. My reading tells me that they don't get much bigger than a big night crawler, so he was full grown. I was cleaning out the bed around the back patio where I so often see garter snakes, and had the company of this guy for a bit until he decided that I was interfering with his basking in the sun and left.

Lucky you to see these beautiful crossbills.I have had them only once at our place in NH.Enjoy them.Also watch for pine grosbeaks,which look similar but larger...Jane