Pine Knob Rd Crossbills

Stephen G Sanford (tanager@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us)
Sun, 22 Feb 1998 17:39:50 -0500


They're still there!

Saturday morning I arrived at 9:00 AM and stayed till 10:30. Red
Crossbills were flying over and settling into the trees along the
roadside repeatedly for some great views. about 6-8 other birders were
there and saw them too. Frank Witebski (pardon me if the spelling is
wrong), from Silver Spring, was there much earlier and saw about 30 Red
Crossbills and several White-wings in the tall deciduous trees at the
west end of the pines around 7:30.

So on Sunday I decided to push my lazy bones, and skip breakfast, to get
there at 7:30 only to be greeted by Frank and another birder who said I
should have been there 15 munutes ago when there were 14 White-wings up
close at the top of the pines. Frank consoled me later with some granola
bars. (Thanks.)

Around 8:30 4 White-wings settled briefly, and very quietly, in the
nearby pines but were not in very good view. Between about 8:30 and
9:00, there were two fly-overs of about 10 Crossbills that, by sound,
were most likely White-wings. Surprisingly, unlike Saturday, there were
very few fly-overs of Reds, and as of 10:00 AM, none had settled in the
nearby trees. Red-breasted Nuthatches continue to be numerous, but I saw
or heard no Pine Siskins at Pine Knob Rd either day.

Also, on Saturday, I went to the pleasant spot near Prettyboy where I've
had crossbills a number of times (Gunpowder Rd, 1/2 mile n. of
Beckleysville Rd) for about an hour plus without any crossbills this
time.

--
Steve Sanford
Randallstown MD
tanager@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us