Hi Folks,

I spent some time this afternoon checking out a variety of locations in 
search of the Ft. Mac Snowy Owl.  I went first to the Cox Creek/Swan Creek 
Dredged Material Facility in AA Co., since they close their gates around 
4:30.  I went to the office to see if the owl had been sighted there, which 
it had not, but the folks there were aware of its presence, and were hopeful 
of catching a glimpse or a photo.   The next stop was Ft. Armistead, where I 
scoped Ft. Carroll and vicinity, but again no owl.  Stop three was the US 
Gypsum plant at the end of Quarantine Rd., where I talked to a security 
guard to see if any of the workers might have mentioned seeing an unusual 
owl.  Lastly, I went to the landfill on Quarantine Rd., which to my surprise 
was an active landfill, and opened for business.  I asked a worker if he had 
seen a white owl, and he said I was the second person to ask him that today. 
He allowed me to drive the periphery road of the facility, which I did, 
twice, but again found no owl, and headed back home.

In other old news, I've been without home internet service for a couple 
weeks, so have been very limited in my ability to read and send messages. 
I've found some birds of modest interest during the past few weeks, but the 
sightings of greatest personal significance were back in our Ferndale yard. 
In the late afternoon of last Thursday (12 Feb), I was watching the flocks 
of starlings, grackles, and robins fly over, when a flock of about two dozen 
finches flew by.  They were bouncy, and quick.  When I got my bins raised to 
view them, I had about 0.5 second to see red and buff colored birds, and 
then they were gone beyond the treetops.  Did not have a long enough look to 
discern wing bars.  Very enticing...and frustrating.  I asked myself how in 
the world these birds could pass by our yard, with spruce trees so laden 
with cones that the green sprigs could barely be seen in the treetops.

I didn't have to wonder for long.  The next morning (Friday, 13 Feb), at 
about 7:20 a.m., while I was at work, Elaine stepped out and observed some 
activity in one of our large fir trees.  After a short search, she was able 
to find four WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLs, all feasting on the tiny cones (less 
than 1 inch diameter) of this fir of unknown species.  She watched the birds 
pull the entire cone off the tree, work it over for its contents, and then 
drop the husk on the driveway.   She saw one adult male in the group, and 
took a photo suggesting an immature male, with the other two birds likely 
being females.  She watched them for about 20 minutes, when they flew off, 
circling the yard, and joined another group of birds, possibly more 
crossbills.  When I got home from work I saw no crossbills, but an area of 
our driveway was cluttered with dozens of the tiny fir cones.

Since we've had no other birds expressing this kind of interest in our firs, 
I swept the driveway clean, and while we have not seen or heard any 
crossbills since, we did have another collection of fir cones cluttering our 
driveway this past Tuesday (17 Feb), suggesting that the birds may have 
returned.  This was our first new yard addition this year, being yard bird 
#135, and #39 for 2009, and a very welcome addition to the list.

Enough.

I'm hoping someone will refind the Snowy Owl.  What a great bird for this 
urban area.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)