Do you keep hearing the words irruption year being thrown around?
If you are newer to birding you might be hearing a phrase going around known as an “irruption” now I will be the first to admit being a birder comes with a lot of terminology but this was a word that gave me pause.
What Is An Irruption Year?
An irruption year is defined by a large group of birds moving outside their normally defined migration ranges usually due to food scarcity or “boom years” meaning a very successful breeding year.
Currently in my area of Arizona we are noticing irruptions of various woodpeckers and finches (I myself snagged a lifer Clark’s nutcracker and Lewis’s Woodpecker out of their elevation range, nutcrackers in particular being seen all over Arizona in large flocks).
Irruption years can be great opportunities to pad one’s life list. Not having to travel so widely for rare birds is always has the Rare Bird Alert community in a tizzy.
Currently pine siskins, redpolls, evening grosbeaks, and pine grosbeaks are forecasted to have irruptions this winter.
For more information on irruption years check out these very educational articles:
https://roswell.wbu.com/irruption-year-information
As always happy birding.
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