Nice capture, Anne. We had a flock of possibly a hundred here all winter at our house in southern Minnesota, which is their southernmost range. They ate 3" out of each of 4 cylinder feeders [3 and 5 inch diameter] a day, so I had to refill them every 3 days. They love thistle seed. Maybe those are the birds we had here. Their northernmost range, according to Crossley's ID Guide for Eastern Birds extends to the northern parts of Canada, nesting in tundra shrubs http://365project.org/morrisroos/365/2013-03-07
@morrisroos very interesting don! we had a lot over the winter and now they're gone. that pic was taken a couple of weeks ago. i tried to count them one day and couldn't do it ... more than a hundred on just the railings and the trees around were crawling with them too. i know what you mean about the food. your's were fortunate with thistle seed. ours were stuck with black oil sunflower seed. ;-)
