Date: 2/1/26 9:47 am From: Chuck Otte <cotte...> Subject: Wandering Finches, Part 2
After my previous post about wandering finch species I was "challenged" to cover some other finch species (thanks Mike!!!), so I figured what the heck, let´s just cover the rest of them, (plus one non-Finch species) so here goes.
For the non-Finch species we have Bohemian Waxwing. They´ll be absent for years and then one winter they´ll pop up all over the state. 41 counties have Bohemian Waxwing records. Most recent irruption years were 2004 and 2008. In fact 2008 were the most recent sightings logged into eBird. This is a species that if you need it for your life/state list and one shows up, you´d better chase it!
Three of the finch species, American Goldfinch, House Finch and Pine Siskin, have been seen in all 105 counties. We have confirmed nesting records for House Finch in 78 counties, 49 counties for American Goldfinch and 26 counties with confirmed nesting for Pine Siskin. House Finch and American Goldfinch are permanent residents, although House Finch is an intriguing story but that´s for another day. Pine Siskins are irruptive and we´ll find them nearly absent from the state some years but more abundant than goldfinches in other years.
Three extreme vagrants include Brambling, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch and Lawrence´s Goldfinch. There are three records for Brambling, two for Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch and one for Lawrence´s Goldfinch.
Lesser Goldfinch has been reported from 36 counties (plus one more county record that just came in this weekend - Chase County). Lesser Goldfinch used to be on the KBRC (Kansas Bird Records Committee) review list but was removed about ten years ago as they were being reported nearly annually. A western/southwestern US species it´s increasing presence in Kansas may be due to warming climates OR more eyes in the field! There is one confirmed breeding record (Finney County) and one probable breeding record (Cowley County).
Purple Finch is a sporadic/irruptive visitor to the state. It has been reported from 84 counties. It´s breeding range is boreal forest and coastal Pacific Northwest. It´s presence in Kansas is going to be strongly dictated by food availability in it´s usual range. With that said, it´s a rare winter that there aren´t sightings from around the state, especially the eastern half.
And then there were three: the two crossbill species and Pine Grosbeak. These irruptive species are highly sought by birders in Kansas. I know we often look forward to the irruptive finch forecast that comes out of Canada every year but keep in mind that those forecasts apply much more to the northeastern US. Pine Grosbeaks and Red Crossbills both nest in the Boreal forest AND the Rocky Mountains. Irruptions into Kansas are more likely to occur from the Rockies, more so than from the northern regions. White-winged Crossbills are a norther Boreal forest breeder so they have to come in from the northern regions.
Pine Grosbeaks have been reported from 26 Kansas counties. We will go years in between sightings in Kansas. Most recently we saw Pine Grosbeaks in western Kansas (Trego and Scott counties) in the fall and winter of 2023/2024. There were as many as 17 sighted at Scott Lake with sightings spanning from November 15, 2023 thru February 21, 2024. Prior to that you have to go back to winter of 2013/14 with sightings from Finney and Geary counties. A rare vagrant to be sure!
White-winged Crossbills are almost as uncommon. They are records from 34 counties in the state. Unlike Pine Grosbeaks, White-winged Crossbills seem to show up every couple of years. eBird reports over the past ten years show sightings in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025. Locations can be nearly anywhere across the state!
Red Crossbills are kind of a curious lot. We can see them nearly every year in the state and nearly any month of the year. We have records from 89 counties. Looking at eBird reports back to 2011, there have been reports, at least one, every year. Some years we´ll see just four or five reports spanning the entire year. Some years, like the irruption in 2017/2018 was very wide spread. There´s even a web page that talks about this irruption: 2017/18 Irruption map: https://ksbirds.org/kos/Crossbills17_18.htm Red Crossbills are known from 89 counties and confirmed breeding records from three. I had a friend in Junction City who called me in late spring, probably early 2000s saying she had Red Crossbills coming to her feeder. She lived less than a block from the Junction City Cemetery that had many old large pine trees. I went over to confirm this and was stunned to see not just Red Crossbills but recently fledged young crossbills. Finney and Shawnee counties also have confirmed breeding records with Sedgwick and Comanche have probable breeding records. In the 1990s we had Red Crossbills annually in the areas around Milford Lake. They were quite fond of the pine cones of the Scots Pines. Unfortunately the Scots Pines were killed by pine wilt disease and we don´t see them nearly as often anymore. Red Crossbills should be expected nearly any time of year (though more often in winter) and anywhere in the state especially around evergreen trees!
