We have six large Siberian elms on our Littleton, Colorado, farm. By mid February, their buds begin to swell, attracting a variety of finches.
On this spring-like afternoon, house finches and a quartet of lesser goldfinches were feeding on the buds. American goldfinches also turn up on a regular basis and pine siskins stop by on occasion. I have yet to observe evening grosbeaks on the farm but my vigil continues.
Snow and Arctic air are expected to arrive by tomorrow evening but the terminal stems and their buds should remain accessible to the finches, especially if high winds clear the canopies. Under those trying conditions, the nutritious buds will be a welcome source of calories for the hardy songbirds.
