Does anyone have these birds in my part of the country? We are in WY, and I think that they are at my feeders, but never seen them before, so not sure if this is the right bird. Sorry, I can't take a pic, but don't have a camera with a good enough telephoto lens to get a pic.
Red crossbills
Check out an online bird i.d. site like What Bird. Here is their link to a Red Crossbill.
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/357/_/Red_Crossbill.aspx
e
This is an extremely irruptive year for crossbill and winter finch species. The pine cone crop in the Boreal forest failed this year so crossbills, pine siskins and others have pushed south. Here in PA, we have significant numbers of WW Crossbills with some reports of Red Crossbills when we normally have none. I had 15 WW crossbills in my yard eating hemlock cones last month. We have hundreds and hundreds of pine siskins. Some of them have even started nestings (about 200+ miles south of their normal range). Here is a blog from someone on the southern push:
http://featherflower.blogspot.com/2008/12/white-winged-crossbill-irruption.html
Same here jec. Many reports of WW Crosbills coming in for NJ.
Skell, Here is another site with a page on Red Crossbills.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Red_Crossbill.html
Thanks for the website info. Yep, that's what they look like. And I have all ages apparently! Several of all of them. Maybe that means my spruce tree will put on cones this year. They are really pretty, but are kind of grouchy! Thanks!
LOL, I'd be grouchy if my beak was crossed too! :-)
On the subject of crossbills, just seen this report:
Quoting:
2009-03-16: Authors Benkman et al. have just published an article in Condor recommending that the sedentary population of Red Crossbills found in Southern Idaho be treated as a separate species: Loxia sinesciuris (South Hills Crossbill). According to the authors, the bird has evolved in a predator-prey arms race with the lodgepole pine, and is genetically isolated to a large degree from other population types that occur sympatrically.
Resin
Downloadable here (pdf file): http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1525/cond.2009.080042
Edit: add download link
This message was edited Apr 6, 2009 10:52 PM
They visited my yard in February. I thought they were goldfinches, but they were on the ground under the spruces tearing into the small cones. The beak formation and notched tail made me realize they weren't finches! They stayed there for about half an hour. I've not seen them since. A work colleague had them in his yard just a couple days ago - dozens of them.