Re: Crossbills
David Gersten (gerstens@erols.com)
Mon, 19 Jan 1998 09:19:17 -0500
Joe,
Glad to hear you found White-winged Crossbills at Pine Knob Road after I
left. I found two on my way out of the area in some trees on Nicodemus
Road. They were in the conifers on the north side of Nicodemus just west of
Berrymans Lane.
My total for the day was 16 Red and 2 White-winged. Less birds than previous
trips but the views were much better.
By the way, the web site with crossbill recordings is at
http://research.amnh.org/ornithology/crossbills/index.html.
See you in the field.
--
David Gersten
gerstens@erols.com
Herndon, VA
Joseph j Halpin wrote:
> Norm,
>
> Thanks for the MC info. Thankfully, I do not need it, since I was
> successful this AM, both at Deer Park and Pine Knob Roads. My success
> was due to those experts at these sites who were quite good at hearing
> the bird sounds (David G of Virginia was one of these experts). At 10:15
> we saw a flock of 8 Red Crossbills at Deer Park Rd. An hour later I was
> at Pine Knob Rd and saw one White-winged Crossbill among a flock of
> about 20 Reds. This time I had my scope out, the sky was somewhat
> brighter and we got some good looks. About 10 minutes later 2
> White-winged Crossbills cooperated by staying in a deciduous tree for at
> least 10 min, giving us a chance to view them at several angles. The
> yellow rump patch on the female was quite visible.
>
> Again, thanks to the birders who helped.
>
> The Texas trip was very good. We recorded 227 species over the 2 weeks,
> which included 87 life birds for me. Being on the 5 CBCs and also having
> the opportunity to be with local experts at other times was a bonus.
>
> On the last day we were on the beach at Galveston and bumped into a bunch
> of birders who had just concluded that they were looking at a
> Yellow-legged Gull among a flock of gulls. This was a state record bird
> and they asked us to help in the documentation.
>
> Also being with the experts on one of the CBCs we got a great look at a
> Zone-Tailed Hawk, a bird we would have overlooked, thinking it was a
> Turkey Vulture.
>
> When we compared our trip list against Jim Greens, there were lots of
> birds he saw that we expected to see but did not. I concluded it is a
> matter of luck and timing. Much like when we were at Rio Bentsen SP; we
> ran into people who had seen the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet 8-10 times
> within a few days. We and others looked for much of the day and had no
> luck.
>
> Thanks again for the information.
>
> Joe