I also had some luck with crossbills this morning at Heckscher SP, spending about half-hour at close range with a tame flock of 18 White-winged. This flock remained in a grove of pines next to the beach around 11;30 AM; a few birds occasionally flew onto the sand briefly to pick at something before returning to the trees. They were quite tame and at one point I stood directly underneath a tree holding 10 birds at just above eye-level, while they looked back at me with that "who is this idiot?" look in their eyes. Sometimes only 4 or 5 of the flock would be visible for some time while the others remained quietly hidden. They can easily be overlooked.
The crossbills were here: 40.698748, -73.160352, between fields 7 and 8 (both closed to cars). I parked at field 6 and walked east. Other birds included Field Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, and a few American Goldfinches, plus endless Red-breasted Nuthatches. Glenn Quinn Hauppauge, NY -- 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/ --
