Laura called me to the back window, and there were four male
white-wingeds in the hemlock cones just over the deck, within arm's
reach if we'd opened the window. I went into the alley for a better
look, and counted as many as twenty crossbills, all adults as far as I
could tell, giving the 40-foot tree a good working over. This is the
fourth time I've seen this species in the back yard this winter--who
knows how many visits I've missed--and the largest group of birds. Half
a dozen males were creeping into the gutters of the house next door for
cones, A few were distracted by the two big sweetgums in the front, but
most of the action was in the conifers, and all the regulars of the
neighborhood--the chickadees, nuthatches, etc.--were nervously attracted
by the racket. The crossbill's attacks on the cones seemed
indiscriminate and greedy, but after they'd left (after ten minutes
maybe), all the cones I picked up on the deck and the stairs and patio
had been well stripped of all seeds. In previous years we've had
crossbills return to scavenge fallen cones on the ground, but I doubt
this gang left much. There's another hemlock in back, maybe thirty feet
tall, but as far as I know they didn't visit it at all. Go figure.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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