Dickcissels have made a name for themselves this year by temporarily “invading” an area specifically the Canadian Great Lakes region that is typically outside of their range. The first map shows the typical breeding distribution of Dickcissels in the Great Lakes region. The second is a map of this years abnormalities.
As you can see Dickcissels have been expanding north. In 2016 there are four locations in Southern Ontario in the breeding season, as for 2017 there are as many as thirty (and probably more). I’m sure many people are asking why? There are many reasons to why this is happening. the fist one is, the normal breeding range of the Dickcissel is experiencing a severe drought and this has push some of them east. The second reason is that similar to Fish Crows & Black Vultures that they are “slowly” expanding north.
