Linda and I decided that this would be a good day to chase down the
White-winged Crossbills. Not one to do things the easy way, Greenlawn Cemetery  in
Franklin County, since we live in Delaware County just north of the Franklin
County line, I headed north to Oak Hill Cemetery in Wyandot County. We arrived
at Oak Hill Cemetery about 10:00 AM, parked the car and started to walk and
listen. Within five minutes I picked up the sound of the crossbills and we keyed
 in to their location. We located a flock of over 40 individuals feeding in
the  hemlocks toward the southeast side of the cemetery. The flock was a fairly
even  mixture of males and females, and as noted by Rick Counts, they were
very  tolerant of our presence. We watched them from a reasonable distance so as
to  not spook them. Later I got out the spotting scope and we got to fully
appreciate the unique beauty of the species. After viewing them for about an
hour Linda began to feel the cold of the morning [I can accept blue birds, but
a  blue birder?]. We broke to get some lunch. Linda said any building with
heat would work.

After lunch we headed to TH-112 in Wyandot County. There we were  greeted by
4 Bald Eagles that put on an aerial show regarding rights to a  carcass in the
field. There were 2 full adults and 2 immature's. They are likely  the reason
we only saw a few Horned Larks in the area.

We next headed to Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area in hopes that we might  find
the Northern Shrike Bruce Simpson and I located earlier. Zilch on the  shrike
today. Instead we added 5 more Bald Eagles, 8 or 9 White-crowned  Sparrows,
Northern Harriers, more Horned Larks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Northern  Harriers,
Golden-crowned Kinglets and Ring-necked Pheasants. The pheasants added  a bit
or irony to the day. There were hunters everywhere, including to the right  and
left of where one pheasant was feeding. The hunters looked everywhere but in
the open area where the pheasant was. Later when we passed the location again
 the pheasant was still occupied feeding at the edge of the grass while the
hunters continued to comb the tall grass finding nothing. We rooted for the
pheasant to make it through the hunting season. As we headed out for home we
rewarded ourselves by stopping at Coon's for a peach-crumb pie and fudge.

Charlie Bombaci

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