Finally! Got my WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS today at White Memorial in
Litchfield. Been chasing them all winter though two states, but even today they
didn't make it easy. I arrived at about 10:30 am and after an area "sweep" hung
around in front of the Carriage House" where they had been reported
yesterday for about an hour. There were several other birders there, also looking
for them. Finally ran out of patience and took a ride around the area for
about half an hour, then returned and decided to park directly across the road
from the Carriage House and wait a while. No other birders present, although
I think I passed Neil Currie leaving on my way in. To my amazement I hadn't
even shut off the car when I saw 2 birds fly into the small spruce covered
with small cones at the top, apparently from the much larger hemlock to the
right. At least I knew they were larger than the Chickadees and Goldfinches I
had been seeing. When I got my binoculars up I spotted several birds up in
the cones, and pieces were falling from the tree. The first birds I spotted
were all yellow/black with white wing-bars, but to make sure I wasn't seeing
Goldfinches I got my scope out. At 50 feet I could make out every detail of
my Crossbills! Eventually I spotted 3 red males as well. There were nine
altogether. After no more than 5 or 10 minutes the flock flew across to the
lone hemlock to the left of the Carriage House, fed for five minutes or so and
finally departed to the west. Link to a few pics below.
Heading toward Canaan I detoured to find about 50 COMMON REDPOLLS on
Hageman/Shean Rd about 200 yards west of East St North in Goshen. They were in the
middle of the road pecking at the sand on the ice.
In North Canaan on US Rt 7 there were 2 BLACK VULTURES sitting in a tree
hanging over the highway, about half a mile south of US Rt 44. There were 3
crows in a tree on the other side of the road for an interesting size comparison.
Don Morgan
Coventry
**************From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in between, stay
up-to-date with the latest news. (http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000023)
Finally! Got my WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS today at White Memorial in
Litchfield. Been chasing them all winter though two states, but even today they
didn't make it easy. I arrived at about 10:30 am and after an area "sweep" hung
around in front of the Carriage House" where they had been reported
yesterday for about an hour. There were several other birders there, also looking
for them. Finally ran out of patience and took a ride around the area for
about half an hour, then returned and decided to park directly across the road
from the Carriage House and wait a while. No other birders present, although
I think I passed Neil Currie leaving on my way in. To my amazement I hadn't
even shut off the car when I saw 2 birds fly into the small spruce covered
with small cones at the top, apparently from the much larger hemlock to the
right. At least I knew they were larger than the Chickadees and Goldfinches I
had been seeing. When I got my binoculars up I spotted several birds up in
the cones, and pieces were falling from the tree. The first birds I spotted
were all yellow/black with white wing-bars, but to make sure I wasn't seeing
Goldfinches I got my scope out. At 50 feet I could make out every detail of
my Crossbills! Eventually I spotted 3 red males as well. There were nine
altogether. After no more than 5 or 10 minutes the flock flew across to the
lone hemlock to the left of the Carriage House, fed for five minutes or so and
finally departed to the west. Link to a few pics below.
Heading toward Canaan I detoured to find about 50 COMMON REDPOLLS on
Hageman/Shean Rd about 200 yards west of East St North in Goshen. They were in the
middle of the road pecking at the sand on the ice.
In North Canaan on US Rt 7 there were 2 BLACK VULTURES sitting in a tree
hanging over the highway, about half a mile south of US Rt 44. There were 3
crows in a tree on the other side of the road for an interesting size comparison.
Don Morgan
Coventry
**************From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in between, stay
up-to-date with the latest news. (http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000023)
