Dec 14 2008
Birding: Crossbills in the Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus Dispatch has a nice story about the winter vagrant crossbills that birders often look for in winter. Excerpt and link:
Some of the oddest birds nature has to offer can be found in Ohio and other northern states this late fall.
They are coming down from the boreal forests of Canada, their normal haunts.
Their rare appearances here are primarily because of a shortage of food in their home range.
Their winter visits are a delight to birders, who love to go in search of them. It gives them a reason to get outdoors in the snow and cold and beat bouts of cabin fever.
These birds are the red- and white-winged crossbills that on first glance look as if they’re deformed. The tips of their bills are crossed, sort of like when you cross your fingers.
The bills, however, are very specialized to get the seeds out of cones on conifer trees, usually hemlocks, spruce and pine trees, which are their favorite food.
Full story: