Hi all,

Steve Rissing has a pair of RED CROSSBILLS coming to his backyard feeders
in Dublin, OH. Today I managed to record a few flight calls, which suggest
they are type 3 Red Crossbills -- the most common type being reported in
the eastern U.S. this winter.  Type 3s typically spend the breeding season
in the Pacific Northwest (from Oregon up into Alaska) and are considered
Western Hemlock specialists (though they can clearly get by with a range of
other conifers!).

Photos of the female and some audio of their relatively high pitched,
snappy calls can be found at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13243757

Steve is fine to have people come by on Sunday, so long as they respect a
few ground rules. I'll post a follow-up if there will be any viewing
opportunities during the week.

Steve asks that visitors park on the street and walk up the driveway to the
back corner of the house. There's no need to alert the Rissings to your
presence. He'll likely have some chairs at the top of the driveway with a
clip-board and pencil so that he (and others) can leave any relevant
information, like when they were last seen.  If you round the corner much
at all, you will spook the birds at the feeders, so please use the corner
of the house as a blind and do not enter the back yard. This will ensure
minimal disturbance for the birds, and for their mammalian hosts. ;-)

The crossbills have been using almost exclusively the red-topped, plastic
tube feeder on the pole with a light blue 8" PVC pipe raccoon deterrent.

Steve will try to have the feeders full by 9:00am, so it's probably not
worth getting there much earlier than that.  Morning seems better than
afternoon.

*Directions*: Take Dublin Rd. north past 270 and turn left on Windwood
Drive, then right on Rushwood Dr.  His address is 5735 Rushwood Dr.

Good birding,
Paul Hurtado
Columbus, OH
<http://people.mbi.ohio-state.edu/hurtado.10>

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