December 23, 2006 Christmas came two days early this year. This morning, while attempting to re-find a Brown Creeper that had just put in an appearance in our yard in Greeneville, I heard a series of calls that alerted me to a flock of about six Red Crossbills flying through. I saw the flock only briefly, long enough to get an approximate count as the birds flew over and among the trees in our yard and on our neighbors' properties, and long enough to judge their size and shape in comparison to other finches. I heard many calls, though--the loud, hard "chit" or "jip" note repeated often--more than I needed to confirm the identification. This is the note that has been designated as the Type I call for Red Crossbill, characteristic of birds commonly found in the Southern Appalachians. The birds entered our yard from the south and continued more or less in a straight northward direction. There are many scattered conifers of at least three different species in the neighborhood, as well as in nearby areas just outside town, and perhaps the flock was attracted to some of these trees. However, given the unpredictability of crossbills, I wouldn't venture any solid guess as to why they showed up inside the town limits. Whatever the reason, the experience was a benediction. Also present in our yard later in the day was a Fox Sparrow foraging under a seed feeder. Don Miller Greeneville, Greene Co., TN pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________