Ran off yesterday to see the White-winged Crossbills at Oak Hill Cemetery near Upper Sandusky, Wyandot county. There I ran into some other birders who dared to brave the cold winds. We were all rewarded with great low tree level views of the foraging flock of crossbills. I got there around 12:00 and stayed until 2:00pm. Try as we might we could NOT relocate the Red Crossbill. This seems to be somewhat typical for Reds; they seem to be one hour wonders in Ohio, whereas the White-winged Crossbills can sometimes hang around. At least thats what I seem to have noticed in my somewhat limited experience.These birds preferred to feed on the hemlock near an obelisk, the tree Steve Jones mentioned in his post. Anyways, keep your eyes on your local patch of Hemlock trees, I just got a report that they were seen at Greenlawn Cemetery near Columbus. 



Here is the link to an album of digiscoped images of these birds that I created on Facebook. It is a public link and you should be able to see it even if you aren't on Facebook yourself. Still, some internet browsers seem to have a problem visiting these public links, but most seem to work. 

        http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022910&l=2104e&id=164901416





On my way home I saw several Northern Harriers and a couple of Kestrels in the Killdeer Plains Wildlife area. There were many hunters around looking for deer. Most of the water was frozen over and I didn't check the Above ground resevoir there. I did see a flock of perhaps=2
0a thousand ducks flying over as I drove through. I've also had a few Northern Harriers where I live in Delaware County. Thank god for winter birds!

               Good Birding, 

                      - Ben Warner

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