A Northern cardinal.
“People are really noticing the wildlife in their backyards as they spend more time at home,” says Curtis Smalling, a lifelong birder and the director of conservation at Audubon North Carolina. And winter can actually be a great time for seeing avian visitors in the South, from colorful migrant finches to resident titmice to nesting great horned owls and bald eagles. To make the most of the cold season, follow Smalling’s tips on how to set up your feeders and what birds to keep an eye out for.
Watch for the finches…
In years when food is scarcer due to natural cycles in the boreal forests of Canada and in the high elevation spruce forests in Appalachia, Smalling explains, migratory finches come farther south in greater numbers. And this is one of those years. “Ornithologists in Canada have forecasted a big finch winter,” he says. “We’ve gotten reports of pine siskins and purple finches as far down as Georgia and Alabama, and North Carolina i