Even More Crossbills at Liberty Reservoir
Phil Davis (pdavis@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 02 Jan 1998 20:30:28 -0500
The place is Pine Knob Road, well described by Darius Ecker in a previous
MD_Osprey message. (Darius was the first one to have reported crossbills
from this location).
About 30 minutes after he and Paula left (about 12:55 pm) we began to be
visited by cooperative White-winged Crossbills. Several flocks of 4-6
birds and 8-10 birds flew into the trees along the road. (They can still
be tough to see and find, however). For about 30 minutes, we had
crossbills clearly in view in our binocs and scopes. Most were female-type
White-winged Crossbills. At least one adult male was present and gave us
good looks. Also, a pair of Red Crossbills flew in a gave us a good
comparison look. (The week before, it was the hot spot for Red Crossbills,
with few WWs!). My experience has been that crossbills are generally quiet
while feeding and roosting, and mostly call in flight (but not always).
Scan the tops of the pines, where the cones are, and listen for flock
flight calls. Be careful, there are many Pine Siskins in the area. Again,
patience is the needed virtue!
This has been a great spot ... we looked at detailed map with Ed Boyd last
weekend and came up with one theory ... there seems to be an "arm" of White
Pines that runs to this spot from the reservoir, about 1/3 of a mile long,
or so. The pines end just past the spot where the road cuts through. My
theory is that as the birds work their way from the reservoir out this
"ridge" of pines, when they get to the end, there is no place to go, so
they either circle or put down to feed.
(to Mineral Hill Rd, then to Pine Knob Rd). At one point, you will go
uphill, pines will be along the road on both sides, there are two fire road
gates on the right (east side). The road has nice wide shoulders on both
sides. Unfortunately, there is a fair amount of traffic, which makes it a
little tougher to hear the flocks. Oh well.
Mill Road for several miles, turn left on Pine Knob Road. The spot is .8
mile from Rt 32.
Happy hunting ...
Phil
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Phil Davis
home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland, USA
work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
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