Hello all, For those interested in searching for crossbills, I'd like to remind everyone to check local cemeteries or even urban areas like downtown Dryden or Cayuga Heights. In years when the cone crop is bad in forests, well spaced conifers in cemeteries and urban areas will often have enough resources that some of the trees will be able to produce a cone crop. Additionally, cemeteries harbor a diversity of conifers thus raising the chances that a species will have cones with seeds. In the 1997-98-superflight year, flocks of crossbills were seen for months in late winter and early spring in downtown Dryden and Cayuga Heights. That same year they also became common feeder visitors at several backyard-feeding stations. In a year like this when a widespread cone crop failure has happened, crossbills will be trying to figure out ways to get by until the next cone crop forms again in June.
cheers, Matt -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web LIVE – Free email based on Microsoft® Exchange technology - http://link.mail2web.com/LIVE -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
