[Birdtalk] crossbills at my feeder (at last)

[Connie]

hahaha! I love your insights.
Last Fri. when 3 of these conifervores came to my feeders, I was  
amazed at their agressiveness. They drove away the house sparrows (big  
cheers from me), but then they also drove away the RWBBs & House  
Finches. They even put the YHBBs at bay. One of the male Crossbills  
was leucocitic and seemed to be the most aggressive of the 3. He went  
after a RWBB that tried to get a place at the feeder and I thought the  
leuco Crossbill looked a lot like a spce alien mutant.  So far that  
has been their only visit. I hope the come back. They are great  
entertainment!

ConnieM
The cake is a lie!


On May 26, 2009, at 1:54 PM, "David Wheeler" <dswheeler at utah.gov> wrote:

> I was nearly brought to tears of gratitude two days ago when I  
> looked out my window in Sugarhouse to see a yellow & red,  
> extravagant-billed mob of toughs at our feeder.  No one else need  
> have bothered trying to feed for the twenty or so minutes that  
> followed.  The usual bullies of the feeder, House sparrows, could  
> not match their boxing glove beaks with the scimitars of the  
> crossbills, and wisely allowed themselves to be pushed off.  Only  
> the acrobatic goldfinches on the precarious thistle feeder were safe  
> to continue their consumption.
>
> In an interesting sidenote, there was a female Cassin's finch  
> traveling with this mob, a friend from the highlands, way back from  
> the happy days when mountains teemed with ripening cones.  I've only  
> had Cassin's finches at my feeder a few times, and here one was.
>
> I've been frustrated of late since I welcomed Mark Stackhouse to my  
> house with a joking condition of temporary residency that he had to  
> alert me to any crossbills that might happen to fly by.  He noted,  
> literally a few seconds later, that those birds disappearing down my  
> street just then were crossbills.  He'd been subconsciously  
> wondering what the odd call was in the almond tree in front of our  
> house as he came to our porch.  "You are a bad man,"  I told him  
> bitterly.  "And I don't believe you for a second."  Since then I had  
> identified a flock flying by with whit calls hitherto unheard of  
> above our yard, but the visual frenzy along with the distinctive  
> toop calls at our feeders was much more satisfying.  Much, much more  
> satisfying.
>
> I wonder how much longer these crooked-smile conifervores will  
> continue to bring grins throughout the valley.
>
> Grinning in Sugarhouse,
>
> David Wheeler
>
> P.S.  Nice to see the pelicans back in Fairmont park, along with the  
> less usual Spotted sandpipers.
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