Thank you everyone for the flurry of messages! After looking at photographs I am now sure they were a small flock of White-winged Crossbills, thanks to Alyssa DeRubeis. She also mentioned, along with ebird, they had been seen in western Hennepin.
Alyssa replied: Hi Susan, I would wonder either Red or White-winged Crossbill. The two winter grosbeak species would be much larger than a junco. As for the bill, it can be hard to tell unless you get an up-close look at the crossed mandibles. And for the colors, it could have been a flock of first-year males/females. Females are golden, and young males are between pink and gold. Your birds could have been "gritting," a common practice for finches. This has been a good year for White-winged Crossbills. Great find too, assuming that's what they are! I haven't heard any in Golden Valley yet but have heard them in western Hennepin Co. Here's a photo showing the three different plumage colors that I took in Quebec back in February. Alyssa DeRubeis When I was looking at them they appeared to have poka-dots on their wings & a photo I saw of a White-winged Crossbill (from ebird) looks just like what I saw. How fun! Thank you! Susan Susan Gilmore sgph...@mninter.net 612-382-1171 I had the most wonderful experience this morning in my Golden Valley back yard and now need help with identifying what I actually saw! I was walking into my backyard when out of nowhere a group of 8 birds, 4 females and 4 males, flew to my feet and started picking up snow and picking at the leaves under the snow literally inches from where I stood. They must have been doing this for at least 5 minutes before they quickly flew away. A male junco joined them for a few minutes and they were approximately the same size as the junco. They were colorful birds which I had never seen before. The male had orange on him and the females had more yellow or gold. Both males and females also had black. My mind was racing trying to figure out what they were. Were they Evening Grosbeaks but the males had orange and their bills were not a Grosbeak bill. Were they Crossbills but their bills did not look like Crossbills and again the males had orange on them & the females more gold/yellow. After looking in my bird books they have similar colors to a Blackburnian Warbler but those birds are not here in the winter. I hope someone can help me ID them. I can’t stop thinking about the experience! Susan ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
