Craig Rieker wrote:


>I found a juv male Red Crossbill today at Dike 14 in Cleveland.
> See a photo at
> http://www.rarebird.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2350&PID=6838#6838
>

If you haven't already done so, I recommend following the link to take a
look at Craig's great photo of this bird.  It's a Red Crossbill that
undoubtedly hatched within the last few months, and it demonstrates that
males molt directly from the streaked brown juvenal plumage to the brick-red
of adult plumage (that is, they don't go through a female-like plumage
first, like some of their relatives).  (Just to make things complicated,
though, fully adult male Red Crossbills can molt to a more yellowish plumage
at times, possibly because of factors of diet or season.)

Both Red Crossbills and White-winged Crossbills had a big year to the north
of us, in Ontario, last year, but in 2007 they have mostly dispersed out of
the province, according to reports from Ron Pittaway.  They're moving around
a lot now and they could show up anywhere.  Kim and I had a lot of
White-winged Crossbills at the end of June 2007 on the coast of southern
Maine, where I had found none at the same season in other recent years.
Some of these birds could bounce back to the west and show up in Ohio.

If we get more Red Crossbills, remember that it's a good idea to try to
record their callnotes if possible.  The "Red Crossbill" as currently
defined in North America is probably a complex of several species (nine or
more) with differing callnotes, bill sizes, and preferred conifers.  Types
2, 3, and 4 (no, they don't have names yet, just numbers!) are all good
possibilities here.  I don't think Craig's bird was Type 3 because its bill
looks too large, but there aren't good visual clues for separating Types 2
and 4, just vocal clues.  We're still learning about these birds, and this
is part of what keeps birding so exciting!

Kenn Kaufman
Rocky Ridge, Ohio

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