Hi all,

I helped out on the Mohican Christmas Bird Count yesterday, organized and
compiled by Roger Troutman. One of the highlights was White-winged
Crossbills. While standing at the Pleasant Hill dam at lunch - this is the
beginning of the Clear Fork Gorge that runs through the heart of Mohican
State Forest - Gary Cowell, I and others had a flock of twenty White-wings
fly directly overhead. Shortly thereafter, Robert Hershberger and team
arrived with reports of other flocks.

After lunch, Cheryl Harner, Marc Nolls and I headed to the gorge overlook,
which offers a stunning vista into the gorge, and were treated to close
views of about two dozen White-wings that descended into the large hemlock
that we were standing under. We enjoyed the spectacle of the pack ravaging
the tiny hemlock cones as they clambered all over the tree. All told, I
think about 40 different crossbills were reported on the count, and maybe
more were found later. Mohican Gorge is full of hemlocks, and I would
suspect the crossbills will have plenty of food to forage on there for some
time to come. If you go, the overlook would be a good bet to watch and
listen for them, as would the area of the covered bridge. As others have
noted, familiarity with the flight calls is most helpful for keying in on
crossbills.

More info about Mohican is here:
http://www.ohiobirds.org/birdingsites/showsite.php?Site_ID=72

I would think another good bet for finding numbers of White-winged
Crossbills would be in the hemlock gorges of Hocking County, should anyone
find themselves down that way. Especially hemlock-choked gorges include
Conkles Hollow State Nature Preserve, Cantwell Cliffs, Old Man's Cave, and
Cedar Falls state parks. The Hocking Hills CBC is next Saturday, and these
sites and others should get good coverage. I'll report if any crossbills
come to light.

Jim McCormac



Jim McCormac

Columbus, Ohio

Like nature? Visit my blog: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/

Like birds? Join the Ohio Ornithological Society: http://www.ohiobirds.org






______________________________________________________________________

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]