White-winged and Red Crossbills in Salisbury Beach State Park

A couple of weeks ago on a beautiful warm day I drove to Salisbury Beach State Park at the mouth of the Merrimac River to see the Crossbills that had been reported there. The pines on the park's camp ground were studded with thick round cones that were bursting with seeds. I watched as flocks of Crossbills were flying short distances from tree to tree. 

Most of them were White-winged Crossbills. Red Crossbills were present in much smaller numbers. They are recognizable by their brick-red color with white only  on their undertail coverts. The color on the White-winged Crossbills is more purple, as if dipped in red wine, very similar to the Purple Finch's.  However it was easy to mistake one for the other if you just saw them from the front and didn't see their wings. They are messy eaters; many of them were feeding on the ground picking up dropped seeds. The "cross bills" refers to the peculiar shape of their bills which are well suited for wedging open the thick cone scales to extract the seeds.

The following photos all show White-winged Crossbills, the flashy males as well as the more subtly colored olive and gray females. The paler pinkish birds are immature males.

I got only a few photos of the Red Crossbills, all males.

The crossbills are included in this year's report on the winter finch irruption. For a very informative updated report see Tim Schreckengost's post on Thermal Birding.

 Happy Thanksgiving! 

-- and thank you for visiting my blog. I am also thankful for all the wonderful birds I was able to see this year. I hope everyone will participate in their area's Christmas Bird Count. We owe it to the birds!

Winter Visitor: White-winged Crossbill

White-winged Crossbills are at home in the northern boreal coniferous forest where they feed on conifer seeds. With their crossed bills they are wedging the scales of the conifer cones open, and lift the seeds out with their tongue. They are nomads traveling where ever conifer seed is in abundance, and in the winter they often appear in the northeast. A male has been reported at a feeder on the campus of Putney School for a couple of weeks but I had had no luck  seeing the bird until today. 

It was a brilliant morning. When I arrived on campus the trees were glittering, each twig studded with sparkling ice crystals. The White-winged Crossbill, an immature male, was hunkered down on a feeder by the campus kitchen busy with picking sun-flower seeds.

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He started out in the shade, but gradually made his way into the sun. He also stopped feeding having apparently gotten his fill.

He had started off feeding in the shade, but was gradually working his way into the sun.

I am not sure what he was looking at under the roof but shortly after he flew off.

So I  was able to add another bird to my life list, bringing the count up to 271. I'd like to thank Ken Klapper, expert birder from Keene, in locating these birds and pointing them out to me.

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