Brief stop at Spring Grove Cemetery after work from 4:03 - 4:35 p. Brief stop at Spring Grove Cemetery after work from 4:03 - 4:35 p.m. I checked the most reliable section of the cemetery where I've consistently found winter finches over the years, that is, section 53. I checked hemlocks, pines and spruces. Several cones are ripe and filling out the trees. Finally, while scanning the tops of the trees, I saw movement and was ecstatic to find a lone male RED CROSSBILL feeding with 2 PINE SISKINS in the top of an eastern hemlock. The crossbill was silent when first found and viewed for about 10-15 minutes. As the sun was setting, and my angle of observation was analogous to almost experiencing "warbler-neck", identification of the crossbill to species was a bit difficult. The bird only showed its wings twice during the observation and both times I was able to see solid black wings with absolutely no wingbars. I always assumed that reds went for the larger cones and that white-wingeds preferred hemlocks over reds. Based on feeding preferences and hearing only two quick call notes (seemed sweet and maybe had a slight "ee" sound in the note, as perhaps "jleep" or "jlip") when it flew from the tree, I'm assuming this bird to be one of the smaller billed types. According to Sibley, Type 3 has the smallest bill, followed by types 1 and 4 in increasing bill size. This bird's bill did not appear any larger than white-wingeds with which I am more familiar, but I did not have anything to compare it to for size other than the two pine siskins with which it was feeding at first (the siskins left the tree during the observation but the crossbill remained). (Note: This is my first Ohio Red Crossbill - I've seen reds in Tennessee and Indiana). Other sightings included a great blue heron oddly enough perched in the top of a pine tree and 2 red-breasted nuthatches, 1 brown creeper and 1 yb sapsucker heard in section 79. David A. Brinkman Master of Education, Xavier University Cincinnati, OH ______________________________________________________________________ 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]