FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Crossbills in Rockingham County

["Clair Mellinger" <mellinac@xxxxxxx>]

A number of persons have asked me for more detail about getting 
to the crossbill nest site.  I will do that below but let me also tell you 
that I visited the site Friday afternoon from 3-4:00 PM but did not 
see or hear them.  However, this morning when I had two more 
pairs of eyes and ears with me (attached to the appropriate other 
body parts of two other people!), we did hear and briefly glimpse 
the crossbills after waiting around for about 30 minutes.  However, 
they did not seem to be actively working on the nest and posing for 
pictures as they were for Matt on Thursday.  

The directions are these.  Find your way to Harrisonburg.  Take 
Route 42 south from Harrisonburg toward Bridgewater.  Before you 
reach Bridgewater you pass through the small town of Dayton.  At 
the third traffic  light in Dayton, turn right (west) onto Route 257.  
Continue on 257  through the town of Ottobine to Briery Branch.  
This is about 7 miles, I believe.  You need to make a left turn at the 
stop sign in  Ottobine but you stay on Rt. 257.  In Briery Branch 
you must also make a right turn at a small gas station/food mart but 
again you will be sticking with Route 257.    About 3 miles after you 
make the right turn in Briery Branch, you will see a gravel road turn 
to the left.  It will be marked Tilghman Road.  You do not want to 
make a left turn onto Tilghman Road but check your odometer 
reading here and  keep going straight on Briery Branch Road.  This 
road is now called Route 924 and is the main road to Briery 
Branch Lake and Reddish Knob.  You will pass Briery Branch Lake 
(and a bunch of fishermen) on your left about 2.4 miles past the 
junction with Tilghman Road. The nest is about 4.5 (4.7 miles on 
my odometer) miles beyond the junction with Tilghman Road.  On 
the left hand side of the road look for a small pile of rocks accented 
with a blue bottle.  There is also  a strip of red surveyor flagging 
that I tied to the limbs of a tree above the rocks.  The nest tree is 
on the right side of the road across from Matt's little "shrine."  I 
have not found the nest yet because of the lack of activity when I 
have been there.  Matt says that you probably won't find the nest 
unless the bird flies right to it as it did when he was there.  It is in a 
tree about ten feet up from the top of the bank, not in the tree right 
at the top of the road cut.  Listen carefully for the little chip note. 

Pine Warblers are always close by and a flock of Golden-crowned 
Kinglets went through when I was there.  Matt found Fox Sparrows 
and Blue-headed Vireos in the Hone Quarry area nearby on 
Thursday.

Good luck,
Clair Mellinger

Biology Department
Eastern Mennonite University
Harrisonburg VA  22802
(540) 432-4409  Fax: (540) 432-4488
mellinac@xxxxxxx
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