Well, the recent wave of pine siskins here at our farm is over. Delightful birds! Nice to have them around, if only for a little over a week. As noted elsewhere, they seem to be associated in some way with the weather system surrounding TS/Hurricane Sandy. We received a total of 2.8 inches of rain from that system, a welcome contribution to the groundwater aquifer after the somewhat brutal and extraordinary summer depletion. Anyway, for the record, pine siskins showed up at the feeders (sunflower and nyger) here on Flint Ridge, Hopewell Township, Muskingum County, Saturday, October 27, around a dozen of them. Their numbers grew daily for a few days, peaking at around thirty on Thursday and Friday of last week (November 1st and 2nd). They seemed to be around in greater numbers each morning rather than later in the afternoon, perhaps fanning out to forage somewhere in the surrounding fields. I never found them out there, only at the feeders, although I did see some goldfinches at the same time afield, and I checked repeatedly for their congeners. Over the past weekend numbers dwindled, down to a dozen or so on Sunday. Monday morning (11/5) there were three pine siskins at the feeders. I have not seen any since. Bob Evans Geologist, etc. Hopewell Township, Muskingum County ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]