Hello-

I had a chance to get out for a little while this morning (with my 3 year old son in tow).  I have been jealous of all the Crossbill sightings from around the state so I decided that I would set out in search of these rarities.  Because this area is mostly deciduous forest and not the right kind of habitat for Crossbills, I visited a place that was planted with a mix of conifers in the early 1900's-Waterloo State Forest.  The forest has some very large White Pines, Red Pines, Red Spruce, Eastern Hemlock, and White Cedar so it seemed promising.  Unfortunately, I didn't find any Crossbills but it was nice to get out nonetheless.  I only saw typical winter birds for the area.

Eastern Towhee
Carolina Wren
Eastern Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Golden Crowned Kinglet
White Breasted Nuthatch
Downy Woodpecker
The smallest Red Shouldered Hawk that I have ever seen

At the feeders, I have been having regular Pine Siskens for about 2 weeks now.  The most that I have seen at one time has been 9.  Last Friday, I saw a flock of unidentified finches flying over Athens that had at least 150 birds in it.  

Dan Weber
Athens, Ohio



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