An American wigeon, also called a baldplate, crosses Six Mile Lake in northern Dickinson County. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

This winter could see more grosbeaks and other types of winter finches at feeders in the region, a Canadian ornithologist says.

Ron Pittaway of the Ontario Field Ornithologists in Toronto, Ontario, predicts this will be an “irruption year” for winter finches, meaning many of the northern species will come south, mostly due to a poor crop of conifer cones, berries and other natural food sources.

This will include pine and evening grosbeaks, common and hoary redpolls, purple finches and pine siskins, along with non-finch birds such as red-breasted nuthatches and Bohemian waxwings, states Pittaway, who annually writes a forecast of which feathered flocks might be moving down from the north, based on food supplies in Canada.

One species, however, that likely will be absent after being seen in record numbers a year ago in northern Wisconsin is the red crossbill, according to the forecast. “The western types seen last winter in the East have probably returned to their core ranges in western North America,” Pittaway writes.

The biggest influx is expected more to the East, so the Upper Peninsula might not see as many of these birds as New York and New England. But it’s close enough to Ontario to be among the northern states that could still see some crossover.

No word on the prospects for northern forest owls this winter, such as the great gray, boreal and northern hawk owl, or the snowy owls from the arctic.

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Movement of other birds southward continues through the U.P. and northern Wisconsin. Most warblers have departed, but I saw a yellow-rumped still hanging around. That fits with the week’s report from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation biologist Ryan Brady of Ashland, who writes: “Yellow-rumped warblers now dominate the warbler scene, especially across the north, where hundreds moved into the region earlier this week, although palm warblers remain relatively common and a smattering of other species can be expected for weeks to come yet.”

Turkey vultures are starting to move in groups through the area. But the main waves of waterbirds still haven’t materialized, Brady writes, “aside from slight increases in duck diversity and numbers and some good goose flights.” So it’s still worth keeping an eye out on area waterways.

Six Mile Lake this week had at least one loon, already in gray and white winter garb, plus some female scaup or ring-necked ducks — too far away to tell for certain — and an American wigeon that appeared to be a male in eclipse plumage.

Hopefully those who left the hummingbird feeders out for late stragglers didn’t find them frozen this morning. They’ll be even more crucial to keep up for the hummingbirds, however, if this weekend’s predicted freeze and frost spells the end of the last few flowers available.

Betsy Bloom can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 40, or bbloom@ironmountaindailynews.com.