[TopOfUtah] GBBC in Cache County: White-winged Crossbills, etc.

[Jason Pietrzak]

Wow - the flock of WW Crossbills is pretty unbelievable. Especially
considering how unlikely they are to be singular or lightly mixed into
a greater flock of Reds... Very impressive work.

Jason

On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 7:21 PM, Ryan O'Donnell <ryan at biology.usu.edu> wrote:
> Stephanie Cobbold and I birded around several locations in Cache County
> this afternoon for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC).  Most of the
> birds we found were to be expected.  Gull numbers and diversity are
> increasing in Cache County, with California Gulls now common (still
> outnumbered roughly 10:1 by Ring-billed Gulls) and Herring Gulls
> accounting for maybe one out of every 100 gulls.  Some rare ones must be
> here by now, but we weren't able to find them today.  We did relocate a
> VIRGINIA RAIL I previously posted about, a tough bird to find in winter
> and still providing nice close looks on occassion.  BALD EAGLES are
> still numerous in the valley, but our count of four or five today is on
> the low end of what I've seen lately.  At least two CACKLING GEESE were
> still in the flock of 500-1000 Canada Geese along Sam Fellow Road.
> There was also one partially leucistic Canada Goose in the flock, with
> white feathers interspersed throughout its black neck sock.  The
> highlight for me, though, was a flock of about eleven WHITE-WINGED
> CROSSBILLS feeding in the spruces of a residential area.  Red Crossbills
> are usually much more common here in Cache County, but we couldn't find
> a single Red among this flock of White-wingeds (or anywhere else).
> Here's the best photo I could manage:
> http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/WWCRsmall.jpg
>
> Good birding,
> Ryan
>
> Ryan P. O'Donnell
> Department of Biology and the Ecology Center
> Utah State University
> 5305 Old Main Hill
> Logan, UT 84322-5305
>
> http://200birds.blogspot.com
>
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