Hi Folks,
I was going to mention this a few weeks ago, but it left my mind.... In
late December I was near Winchester Bay, watching and photographing
crossbills in a large, cone-laden spruce. They had been in this spruce for
at least 15 minutes, seed wings continuously floating down toward me in the
gentle wind.... Then, this small group of about 15 birds lifted up, flew
down to a nearby row of shorter lodgepole (shore) pine very close to me,
and began feeding there on the lodgepole cones. Again, seed wings from the
lodgepole cones were floating down through the air to me. They fed on the
lodgepole for at least another 15 minutes while I was there. This group had
first fed on the spruce, then on the lodgepole, doing a good job on both.
I did get some photos of the birds and attempted recording calls. My photos
are in eBird, but I haven't checked if my recordings are useful or not, for
discerning types.
Matt
