 Winter is on its way, but there are still many activities at Maine Audubon's Gilson Farms in Falmouth. Staff naturalist Mike Windsor, talk with Brian Naubloch about what's coming up and about some unexpected guests that have shown up this year. Mike, it's a crisp fall day here at Gilson Farm in November. And we have some visiting birds here and some visiting friends coming in. Tell us about that. Yeah, sure. We have an unusual number of what we call eruptive finches down in our area this winter. They're called eruptive because some years there are practically none here and other years there can be a lot. It's a little bit unusual to have multiple species here in such numbers and as early as we do this year. So things like red crossbill, white wing crossbill, evening gross beaks, pine gross beaks, pine siskins, common red pole, and red breasted nut hatch, which is an honorary finch. So there'll be some different species to look for at your feeders this winter. And the reason that we have them here in such numbers this year is because these species breed up in the Arctic regions and they rely heavily on the seed crops from hardwood trees, from coniferous trees. And this year for a number of different factors there was kind of widespread failure of these seed crops. So these species are traveling south in search of food and they have already been reported all across the southern part of the United States. So it's a pretty big eruptive year. Maybe not so great for the birds, but it's fun for the birders to get out there and see what unusual species are around this year. And what do some of these birds look like? If somebody sees something out of feeder, what should they look like to know what they're seeing? Well, the different species, they all look pretty different. I think the main thing to look for is, to look for something that you're not used to seeing. Check your field guides. You can always call here at Gilson Farm and I'd be happy to field questions about unidentified birds. Having a photo to look at is always very helpful, but just something that you're not used to seeing is what to key in on. So when the birds in the Arctic, they can't find the food that they want, they just sort of instinctively just keep going south until they find as much as they need. Exactly, exactly. And that's the eruptive nature that these species tend to follow. And at this time of year, are there still migratory birds going through Gilson Farm area that people can see if they come out here? Yeah, there still can be. I mean, in middle of November, the big push of migration is already over. A lot of the neotropical migrants are the birds that are going to Central and South America. At this point, we would expect to have a majority of them gone, but they're always stragglers around, so it's always good to get out and check what's around. And you have several events coming up here at the farm and one of them has to do with migratory birds. Tell us about that. Yes, we do. So we have a free program in December 6th. Philip Hoos is presenting about his book called Moonbird and it follows this one red knot, which is a type of shorebird species that has one of the longest migrations of any bird in the world. It breeds way up north in the Canadian Arctic and migrates all the way down to the southern tip of South America, which is a round trip of about 18,000 miles. And Philip has been following this bird for a number of years. And the reason that the book is called Moonbird is because, collectively, back and forth migrations, this bird has traveled the distance out to the moon, which is pretty phenomenal. And how long does it take that bird to make that migration? I mean, is it six months down and six months back? No, it's relatively short. They have these really big pushes and they have areas where they stop for a few days and they refuel, but they can go for hundreds of miles at a stop, so it's probably a week or two that it takes these birds to actually migrate that distance. It's pretty phenomenal. You probably even couldn't drive at that. Probably not, probably not. And that presentation is on December 6th at 7 p.m. and it's free. And then we have another presentation that's coming up on November 27th. We have two researchers from the University of Maine that are going to be here. They've been looking at wind power development in the Gulf of Maine and the potential impacts on migrating songbirds. And then we also have a field trip coming up on December the 8th to mass landing sanctuary, which is a property that Maine Audubon owns. That's in Freeport. And I'm featuring some of the properties that Maine Audubon owns this winter. We are going to Josephine Newman sanctuary in January and then we're going out to, I'm sorry, we're going to Hamilton sanctuary in January and Josephine Newman sanctuary in February as well. And this time of year, Gillsville Farm is still open. People can come out here and walk through the trails and enjoy the scenery. And are there still animals around that are burrowing in for the winter here? Yeah, so our trails are open every single day from dawn until dusk. People are always welcome to come out and walk or run or do whatever out here. And yeah, so some of the animals like our woodchucks that are very tame and people really love watching them in the summer, they are down and hibernating for the winter and sound asleep. That sounds like a good idea for the rest of us as well. Yes, sometimes. Thanks very much. Thank you.