Bill, I personally have not seen either in SW Ohio since the 2012/2013 irruption of both species. I even had White-winged as a yard bird that year. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mangoverde/8706707185/in/photolist-j4YQep-ego9H8-ego9FR-imauUU Regards, Bill Hull Cincinnati On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 9:55 AM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I'm curious to know if anyone has seen crossbills in Ohio this season. I > don't recall any recorded reports from last winter, either. FYI below are > central Ohio records taken from my book on the region's birds going way > back... > Bill Whan > > Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra. Rare and seemingly more erratic than the > following species, in cold weather, with a few interesting occurences in > other seasons as well. Wheaton wrote: “I saw a specimen said to have been > taken in this vicinity in the winter of 1859-60,” and noted the acquisition, > via Oliver Davie, of “a male shot with a pistol by C. Hinman from a flock of > 8-10 in conifers in his Columbus garden” on the intriguing date of 18 June > 1878 (Wheaton 1879:62), now OSUM #2162, which A. R. Phillips (tag data) > identified as L. c. neogaea. Three were at Green Lawn Cemetery 12/18/1925 > with siskins (Thomas 1926). OSUM #10234 is a window-kill, its crop filled > with pine seeds, from 4/2/1964 (CD 4/20/1964) on Hamilton Road, which three > different crossbill experts have identified variously as L. c. pusilla, L. > c. benti, and L. c. neogaea on museum tags. Subsequent studies have found > that differences in calls, rather than plumage and measurements, are more > reliable in subspecies identifications. D. Borror taped a calling flock > that grew to 15 at Blendon Woods 4/12-16/1970 (WCB 16:37). E. S. Thomas > observed one eating white pine seeds in Clintonville on the unexpected date > of 8/27/1972 (WCB 18:24); 5-6 were observed elsewhere in town that day (AB > 27(1):70), with one seen the ensuing winter at a Clintonville birdbath on > 2/24/1973. There is another August record, from the 30th in 1985 (AB > 40(1):123), and one from September on the 29th in 1979 (OC 2(3):26). Bent > (237(1):512) gives an early normal arrival in Columbus of 10/11. Local > reports come from ten months of the year. More recently, in 2009 one was > reported heard and seen on 3/28 in Hilliard (NAB 63(3):429) and another on > 2/3 at Green Lawn Cemetery (fide G. Stauffer). In 2012, the same location > hosted at least seven on 11/26/2012 (ph. I. Shulgina). Maximum 20 on > 1/31/1976 (AFN 30(3):727). A pair in Ross County in April 1973 (Thomson > 1983:235) provided Ohio’s only confirmed nesting, which was apparently > unsuccessful. > > White-winged Crossbill Loxia leucoptera. Seemingly unknown to our area’s > nineteenth-century observers, but present in appreciable numbers here during > occasional winter incursions from the north since, most recently in 2012-13. > At such times their flocks are partial to conifer seeds, both on the tree > and the ground, as well as fruits of sweetgums. Groves of fruiting mature > trees are preferred. One visited Green Lawn Cemetery 1/3/1920 (OSMSB 27), > where 20+ were present 1/31/1976 (AB 30(3):727) and as many in certain later > years. One was singing 2/5/1996 (OC 19(2):51), and two found 12/8/1997 (OC > 21(2):49), an example of rarely-seen incursions in consecutive winters. A > late crossbill report came from 4/29/1981 (OC 4(1):37). During the winter > of 1963-64, 15 were tallied for the Columbus CBC, only the second record for > the count; 62 were in hemlocks later on 1/19/1964, and Trautman reported one > at Green Lawn Cemetery 2/16/64 (fide E. Thomas). The county participated in > a memorable statewide invasion of these birds in the winter of 2008-9, with > numerous reports, mostly involving crossbills feeding on conifers, through > the period; this incursion alone raised the number of Ohio CBCs having ever > recorded this species from 21 to 27 (Troutman 2010), and Franklin County > hosted at least 140 reported, when especially preferred were hemlock seeds > in ornamental plantings (OC 32(2):84). Fifteen at Green Lawn 11/8/2012 were > the first seasonal arrivals (NAB 67(1):73), with 25-30 the next day, and > similar sightings continued through February; 20+ were in a Clintonville > back yard feeding on hemlocks obliviously at arm’s length away 1/21 that > same year (pers. obs.). Specimen 1/15/1954 OSUM #9307. > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Please consider joining our Society, at > www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]