Another Irruptive Species Appears!

On October 26th, I went birding by bike in the ramble. As I rode in I saw an Eastern Towhee and my friend, Ryan. He told me that he had seen several notable species in the park that day.
These were:
Purple Finches at the feeders (less than 100 feet away from where I was, Probable)
Lincoln's Sparrow at the Great Lawn (little chance of finding)
Red-Breasted Nuthatch at the Pinetum (possible)
Flock of Pine Siskins at Shakespeare Garden (possible)

The chase was on! My first target, the Purple Finch, was at the feeders waiting for me. There were actually 2 of them together! There was also a House Wren there as well. My next stop was the Pinetum, where Red-Breasted Nuthatches have been seen for the last several weeks. I didn't find them, but I did get a Brown Creeper and a flock of Palm Warblers as consolation. I decided to skip the Lincoln's Sparrow and go straight to the siskins.

 As I went Shakespeare Garden, I ran into a birder who told me they are currently being seen in a hemlock grove from the terrace there. When I got there, there were a few other people there looking for the birds. They only had glimpses of the birds in the half hour that they were there. These birds seemed to be really seclusive. But that was not our only problem. There were more that half a dozen species that looked exactly like them from a distance (Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Black-Capped Chickadee, Song Sparrow, etc.). Time kept passing as we picked up our binoculars and confirmed that every bird we saw in the hemlocks wasn't a siskin After about 20 minutes, I was about to give up when I saw 5 birds fly up near the top of the hemlocks. Pine Siskins! One of the birds gave us great views as well. After a few minutes, they disappeared into the hemlocks again and I decided to call it a day.

Species List:30

Red-Tailed Hawk (3 together, flyover)
Gull Sp.
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Black-Capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper (Pinetum)
House Wren (Evodia Field)
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Palm Warbler (Pinetum)
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow (Maintenance Field)
Song Sparrow
White-Throated Sparrow
Dark-Eyed Junco
Common Grackle
House Finch
PURPLE FINCH (2 at Evodia Field)
PINE SISKIN (5 at Shakespeare Garden)
House Sparrow