An update on the crossbill: the bird was seen only twice today, Saturday...11:30-11:40am and 12:50-1pm.  To the many folks that braved the chill for the remainder of the afternoon, I wish he'd been more cooperative and returned.  But the Cooper's hawk in the yard may have had something to do with it.  
   
  For those who want to try on Sunday, I suggest trying between 11am-1pm, as this time interval not only encompassed both sightings on Saturday, but is also when he was most active during the couple weeks he was being seen in December. But then again, crossbill behavior is often erratic, so who knows!?  If you do get a glimpse, the wait will be worth it; this is very bright, healthy looking male with an exceptionally long upper mandible.  
   
  We're inside the 495 Beltway.  From Sligo Creek Pkwy <1/4 west of Colesville Rd, stand near the sewer caps and look north, up the hill, to the feeders and water bath on my elevated wooden porch.  Parking is wherever you can find it West of the sewer caps. 
   
  Good luck!  
  Noah Kahn
  Silver Spring, MD


Noah Kahn

"There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot...like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher 'standard of living' is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free. For us of the minority, the opportunity to see geese is more important than television, and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech." 
Aldo Leopold (who else?)
       
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