Dave Slager and I were interested in checking some of the Columbus
cemeteries for crossbills.  I met Dave this morning at his home along the
Olentangy River just south of OSU.  He had joked with me yesterday about
starting our search with the single spruce tree in his backyard but that
didn't turn out to be such a bad idea.  I pulled up a few minutes late and
just shy of a female WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL that briefly landed in the top
of the spruce!  Dave said it flew in noisily, landed just long enough for
him to get great looks and then flew south along the river.  Hoping that to
be a major omen, we headed north to the Union Cemetery off Olentangy River
Road.  We didn't have any luck at either the west or east unit but this
cemetery is fairly large and should be checked.

Our next stop was Greenlawn Cemetery and after just a few minutes of
arriving at an area with some hemlocks (Sections G & I), we had a male
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL fly in noisily and land briefly.  It wasn't perched
for very long but circled back once and headed into the interior of the
cemetery.  This bird was heard before it was seen and if you're not familiar
with either species' calls, I would highly recommend visiting the Cornell
Lab's Macaulay Library web site (
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/MacaulayLibrary/) to listen to some of their
many recordings.

Good birding!

--
Aaron Boone
Columbus, OH

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

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