On my way home from seeing the Snowy Owl in Oxford and other birding adventures (nothing of note), I stopped by Druid Ridge Cemetary at 2 to 3pm to look for the White-winged Crossbills for a sixth time. This time, I had some luck. A flock of about 30(!) WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS were feeding in the westernmost trees of the hemlock row to the north in the cemetary. The flock included both males and females, and I believe at least one immature male (noted a very orangish-yellowish throat-- active feeding made it difficult to get a long look.)

To my surprise, there was no one else there looking for the crossbills except for Jeff Deets, who had watched them for quite a while this morning (perhaps everyone except me had seen them by now!) He noted that they seemed to be testing the spruce trees briefly as the flock moved through the cemetary, perhaps waiting for the seeds to become more exposed. We both observed this behavior later on on the southern end of the cemetary as the flock flew by with some individuals stopping to check the cones.

Overall a good birding day! How many opportunities are there to see both White-winged Crossbills and Snowy Owls in Maryland on the same day?!

Happy Birding!
dcs

David C. Smith
Owings Mills, MD