Recently, a birder in Fort Collins, Colorado found a pair of White-winged Crossbills in the local Grandview Cemetary. Not an ordinary find by any stretch, thus these birds have been attracting people from all over the state. There are lots of listers in this state so you could imagine what a stir this would cause. We know White-winged Crossbills to breed in the high boreal forests of Canada and Alaska with occasional winter irruptions that bring visitors down south. This usually is a function of how good the cone crop is. White-wingers occupy a variety of spruce trees and eat the tiny seeds inside.
In the past my colleagues and I have found breeding White-winged Crossbills in the Black Hills, South Dakota so I already assume they are sporadic breeders, but not this far south. A good friend, Chuck Hagner (editor of Birder's World magazine), had told me that he has witnessed White-winged Crossbills in Duluth, Minnesota breeding in -12 F temperatures. That took me by surprise. I guess this makes them a very opportunistic species. We are all hoping these birds in Fort Collins breed, but only time will tell.
Bill Schmoker and I went to the cemetary early Saturday morning where Bill was able to get the the upper reaches of these mature spruce trees and get these shots. Boy were they high up! There were a good group of about 8-9 people there and I believe everyone had seen the birds. The male was singing his head off, so that is a very good sign. The song is easy to distinguish as it is a long series of bubbly tinkling that can go on for long periods at times.
In the past my colleagues and I have found breeding White-winged Crossbills in the Black Hills, South Dakota so I already assume they are sporadic breeders, but not this far south. A good friend, Chuck Hagner (editor of Birder's World magazine), had told me that he has witnessed White-winged Crossbills in Duluth, Minnesota breeding in -12 F temperatures. That took me by surprise. I guess this makes them a very opportunistic species. We are all hoping these birds in Fort Collins breed, but only time will tell.
Bill Schmoker and I went to the cemetary early Saturday morning where Bill was able to get the the upper reaches of these mature spruce trees and get these shots. Boy were they high up! There were a good group of about 8-9 people there and I believe everyone had seen the birds. The male was singing his head off, so that is a very good sign. The song is easy to distinguish as it is a long series of bubbly tinkling that can go on for long periods at times.
Male White-winged Crossbills have a very pink appearance when comparing them to the Red Crossbills. Reds will get almost vermilion red sometimes in high breeding, but never with the pink tones of the White-wingers. Both Red and White-winged Crossbills have darker auricular patches, but it is much more pronounced in the Red Crossbill. Also, both have darker wings, but the White-winged variety have a greater contrast not to mention the large white wing bars on each wing near the shoulder patch and tertials in most cases. The female has a white throat, is principally yellow and has streaking all over including the head. These two crossbills are nearly the same size, but Red Crossbills have a much bigger bill in most cases make one think that the Reds are larger.
These birds were hanging out with about twenty Red Crossbills. I certainly hope these birds breed and will be sure to most again in the future should they hang around for a while. I look forward to getting my Nikon D200 back from the shop so I can go out there get photograph this pair myself.
I would like to thank Bill Schmoker for providing the photos for this post. Good Birding to all of you! thanks for reading!
I would like to thank Bill Schmoker for providing the photos for this post. Good Birding to all of you! thanks for reading!
2 Responses:
The American experience of birding must be quite different to the Australian one. I can't imagine large groups of people flocking to an unusual sighting here unless it was a particularly rare vagrant -- or a birder's convention was going on near by!
LOL...well it differs all over the country and it depends on the bird. Colorado has a huge birding community and if the bird is rare enough then they will come. I love comments so thanks for leaving one. Australia....I'm jealous. Best to you, Sebastian!
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