Its an irruptive year for both nuthatches. They are "migrating" really moving in search of food more so in very large numbers. Easily a thousand have been seen by us at Rosetta McClain Gardens moving through. They are still continuing. There are definetly more Red-breasted moving than White-breasted but both are moving in large numbers.
All of this was predicted in Ron Pittaway's annual "Winter Finch Forecast...Cone and Seed Report". Each year Ron gathers data from his connections in northern Ontario and Quebec's boreal areas and makes a prediction based on the success of cone and seed crops in trees. With this he very accurately (most times) predicts what species will be seen in more abundance each winter, further south than normal. This season accurately he predicted Blue Jays, Nuthatches, Evening Grosbeaks, White-winged Crossbills, Pine Siskins and Purple Finch among others would be moving this fall/winter.
Being out daily almost since August I can tell you that along our migration route(the shore of Lake Ontario) at Rosetta, we saw thousands of Blue Jays, easily a thousand Nuthatches, a few hundred White-winged Crossbills(they have just started to be seen in numbers), thousands of Pine Siskins and more Purple Finch than normal.
Other species which could be seen, the Evening Grosbeaks and Red Crossbills, we havent seen so far, but if you check various birding boards, they are not far away in areas of southern Ontario. (Barrie for example or Hamilton area)
Robins are now moving enmass again after their movement stalled out during the recent storms. The best time of day to see the movements of "small birds" is early mornings and evenings. They fly overnight, unlike birds of prey that travel in daylight hours, so U see them flying first thing in the morning still till maybe 10am in large numbers and as say 4pm ish it begins to pick up again. Some of all of the species may be seen during the day time but thats more of a crapshoot.
Good luck and enjoy whatever you see whereever you see it!
