Bill,
I personally have not seen either in SW Ohio since the 2012/2013
irruption of both species.

I even had White-winged as a yard bird that year.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mangoverde/8706707185/in/photolist-j4YQep-ego9H8-ego9FR-imauUU

Regards,
Bill Hull
Cincinnati

On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 9:55 AM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I'm curious to know if anyone has seen crossbills in Ohio this season. I
> don't recall any recorded reports from last winter, either. FYI below are
> central Ohio records taken from my book on the region's birds going way
> back...
> Bill Whan
>
> Red Crossbill   Loxia curvirostra.  Rare and seemingly more erratic than the
> following species, in cold weather, with a few interesting occurences in
> other seasons as well.  Wheaton wrote: “I saw a specimen said to have been
> taken in this vicinity in the winter of 1859-60,” and noted the acquisition,
> via Oliver Davie, of “a male shot with a pistol by C. Hinman from a flock of
> 8-10 in conifers in his Columbus garden” on the intriguing date of 18 June
> 1878 (Wheaton 1879:62), now OSUM #2162, which A. R. Phillips (tag data)
> identified as L. c. neogaea.  Three were at Green Lawn Cemetery 12/18/1925
> with siskins (Thomas 1926).  OSUM #10234 is a window-kill, its crop filled
> with pine seeds, from 4/2/1964 (CD 4/20/1964) on Hamilton Road, which three
> different crossbill experts have identified variously as L. c. pusilla, L.
> c. benti, and L. c. neogaea on museum tags.  Subsequent studies have found
> that differences in calls, rather than plumage and measurements, are more
> reliable in subspecies identifications.  D. Borror taped a calling flock
> that grew to 15 at Blendon Woods 4/12-16/1970 (WCB 16:37).  E. S. Thomas
> observed one eating white pine seeds in Clintonville on the unexpected date
> of 8/27/1972 (WCB 18:24); 5-6 were observed elsewhere in town that day (AB
> 27(1):70), with one seen the ensuing winter at a Clintonville birdbath on
> 2/24/1973.  There is another August record, from the 30th in 1985 (AB
> 40(1):123), and one from September on the 29th in 1979 (OC 2(3):26). Bent
> (237(1):512) gives an early normal arrival in Columbus of 10/11. Local
> reports come from ten months of the year.  More recently, in 2009 one was
> reported heard and seen on 3/28 in Hilliard (NAB 63(3):429) and another on
> 2/3 at Green Lawn Cemetery (fide G. Stauffer).  In 2012, the same location
> hosted at least seven on 11/26/2012 (ph. I. Shulgina). Maximum 20 on
> 1/31/1976 (AFN 30(3):727).  A pair in Ross County in April 1973 (Thomson
> 1983:235) provided Ohio’s only confirmed nesting, which was apparently
> unsuccessful.
>
> White-winged Crossbill   Loxia leucoptera.  Seemingly unknown to our area’s
> nineteenth-century observers, but present in appreciable numbers here during
> occasional winter incursions from the north since, most recently in 2012-13.
> At such times their flocks are partial to conifer seeds, both on the tree
> and the ground, as well as fruits of sweetgums.  Groves of fruiting mature
> trees are preferred. One visited Green Lawn Cemetery 1/3/1920 (OSMSB 27),
> where 20+ were present 1/31/1976 (AB 30(3):727) and as many in certain later
> years. One was singing 2/5/1996 (OC 19(2):51), and two found 12/8/1997 (OC
> 21(2):49), an example of rarely-seen incursions in consecutive winters.  A
> late crossbill report came from 4/29/1981 (OC 4(1):37).  During the winter
> of 1963-64, 15 were tallied for the Columbus CBC, only the second record for
> the count; 62 were in hemlocks later on 1/19/1964, and Trautman reported one
> at Green Lawn Cemetery 2/16/64 (fide E. Thomas).  The county participated in
> a memorable statewide invasion of these birds in the winter of 2008-9, with
> numerous reports, mostly involving crossbills feeding on conifers, through
> the period; this incursion alone raised the number of Ohio CBCs having ever
> recorded this species from 21 to 27 (Troutman 2010), and Franklin County
> hosted at least 140 reported, when especially preferred were hemlock seeds
> in ornamental plantings (OC 32(2):84).  Fifteen at Green Lawn 11/8/2012 were
> the first seasonal arrivals (NAB 67(1):73), with 25-30 the next day, and
> similar sightings continued through February; 20+ were in a Clintonville
> back yard feeding on hemlocks obliviously at arm’s length away 1/21 that
> same year (pers. obs.). Specimen 1/15/1954 OSUM #9307.
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
>
> Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
> Please consider joining our Society, at
> www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
> Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
>
>
> You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
> listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
> Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]