Re: [cobirds] Happy to be crossing paths with Red Crossbills again

For what it's worth, I too have been encountering Red Crossbills (RECR) this season with much greater frequency than I have the past 2 years. As usual this time of year, I'm doing a number of bird surveys for the Conservancy in various parts of the state. Recently I had a number of surveys in the vicinity of the Eaglesnest Wilderness north of Vail, and in various locations in the general Eagle-Vail corridor. In the past week I've had RECR on every survey, sometimes just 1 or 2 individuals, but other times a dozen or more. I'm seeing them and hearing them calling, and sometimes singing. Sometimes I even get the two most common types in Colorado, Type 2 and Type 5, on the same survey (although in our surveys we don't record the RECR types in our data collection). I aspire to get recordings, but I am often too slow on the draw to get my recording apparatus ready before the birds leave.

I'm pretty sure the last couple field seasons I may have encountered only a couple individual birds the entire season, if that. So this year, it feels much more assuring and encouraging to find these fabulous creatures regularly traversing our forests.

Eric

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Eric DeFonso
near Lyons, Boulder County, CO

On Thu, Jul 7, 2022 at 8:34 AM David Suddjian <dsuddjian@gmail.com> wrote:

After hardly finding any Red Crossbills at all over the past 12+ months, there seems to be a shift going on, with crossbills appearing now before my ears and eyes. I've had a number of encounters over the past several days. For example, I had Red Crossbills at 7 places on a survey on July 1 up Old Squaw Pass Road and along the road up to Mt Evans peak in Clear Creek County. These were both Type 2 and Type 5 Red Crossbills, and I was excited to see that there is a new cone crop ripening up there for bristlecone pine, lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce. The Type 2 birds were clearly associated with the bristlecone pines, such as a flock in the old bristlecone stand near the Mt Goliath Natural Area. I did not see any foraging, and the cones were not ripe, but the crossbills were hanging there. I'd suggest hanging around near bristlecones if you are up there is a good way to find some crossbills. Some Type 5 birds seemed to be engaged in courtship near Squaw Pass. 

Down at my Ken Caryl Valley home in Jefferson County I've had 5 detections of Red Crossbill (Type 2) in just three days July 5-7. All were passing over as if on the move, not foraging locally. This is a record-paced frequency for noting crossbills near my home, where I have had a number of detections but they are sporadic and infrequent. Now I feel I must be ready to record flight calls at any moment when I step out.. 

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO

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