Northern finches have been making appearances throughout the county.
Barton Smith of Wyomissing Hills has had a pine siskin at his feeders for the last week.
Matt Wlasniewski of Hamburg reports purple finches at his feeders.
Catherine Elwell of District Township writes: "A new visitor for my place was a white-crowned sparrow on Oct. 26. Oct. 22 brought the first brown creeper; I spied my first pine siskins (three) on the 30th. Purple finches were the first to arrive on Oct. 2 (five males and eight females)."
She also writes that the new visitors have been making their presence known among the local birds: "It was comical to watch a female purple finch and an Am. goldfinch interact at my bird bath. The goldfinch was already happily bathing when the purple finch landed and began tugging and pulling at the goldfinch's tail feathers. I guess the p. finch wanted privacy and was telling the goldfinch to get lost."
Mike Vanino of Kenhorst sent in some remarkable photos of the bald eagle congregation that occurs every winter at the Conowingo Dam along the Susquehanna River in northeast Maryland. He stopped counting at 100. As the bald eagle population has increased, the wintering eagle numbers at the dam have also increased.
The eagles find easy pickings at the hydroelectric dam when the turbines stun the fish, making them easy meals.
Bald eagles have made a remarkable comeback, a fact recently celebrated at Hawk Mountain. As of last Thursday, a record 349 balds had passed the lookout since this year's count began July 31.
Hawk Mountain will hold a Golden Eagle Saturday on Saturday, highlighting the other eagle that migrates through Berks. As of Thursday, 42 have been spotted this season, but the colder, November days are what push this magnificent bird out of the north.
It was the golden eagle that put Hawk Mountain on the map in the mid-1930s when curator Maurice Broun recorded this bird in unprecedented numbers. The prevailing wisdom of the time was that the golden eagle was a raptor of the West without a sizable Eastern presence. Some even doubted his eagle identification skills until they went to Hawk Mountain to witness the migration with their own eyes.
Go to Hawk Mountain in the waning days of November and catch both of these eagles with your own astonished eyes.
More than 100 bald eagles have congregated at the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River in northeastern Maryland.
