2/22/14 Long Lake (northern Hamilton Co.)
Over hundreds of Amer. Goldfinches and a few Purple Finches, I suddenly heard the distinctive, loud call notes of Red Crossbills on our baby monitor (used to bring in outside sounds in winter)! I raced to see them - they were gritting in our driveway with several goldfinches. The most exciting part was observing a juvenile Red Crossbill gritting too! It was right next to a hovering adult male. The adult female had just been observed and she flew back up into a large white pine when the juvenile and male dropped down. So there was at least one juvenile with this pair. They stayed for about 10 minutes in a large white pine. I just sent off 3 recordings to Matt Young at Cornell. I recorded from a second floor window that was probably around 50 to 70 feet from the calling birds. Unfortunately, my scope was sitting inside the car near where the birds were gritting, so I couldn't get a photo of the juvenile. This observation really made my day!!! I have not yet observed any juvenile Red Crossbills in the Minerva area. Joan Collins Long Lake, NY (315) 244-7127 cell (518) 624-5528 home http://www.adirondackavianexpeditions.com/ http://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
