[Birdtalk] more White-winged Crossbills

[Colby Neuman]

Hi all,

Numbers and diversity of bird species seem to be up from last winter.  On
Monday, I was in Mill D North (Big Cottonwood Canyon - Salt Lake Co.) and
had a flock of 50 PINE SISKIN, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES, HAIRY WOODPECKER,
several PINE GROSBEAKS in the aspens and 3 flyover WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS
(betweeen Tom's Hill and Reynold's Peak).  Three RUFFED GROUSE that were
buried in the snow flushed from ~5 ft away...giving me the usual near heart
attack.

Yesterday I went up Grizzly Gulch (near Alta in Little Cottonwood Canyon -
Salt Lake Co.) to Twin Lakes Pass and I came across a flock of ~50
crossbills that allowed me to get within 10-20 feet of them as they
frantically fed.  There were approximately 3 RED CROSSBILLS for every
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL in the flock.

Colby
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