RFI -- crossbills and cone crops

[Cody Porter]

Hi all,

I'm here with my annual request for information on the whereabouts of good cone crops and crossbills.

Unfortunately, cone crops over much of the Rockies were non-existent or very poor this last year, causing a mass exodus of our usually abundant type 2 (ponderosa pine) crossbills to the Great Lakes and Northeast region (though it seems there have been several holdouts at feeders along the Front Range and even deeper in the mountains). Hopefully as summer progresses, good cone crops will develop and crossbills will return.

As usual, I am particularly interested in hearing about developing ponderosa pine, douglas-fir, and Engelmann/blue spruce cone crops. It is still too early to detect a developing spruce/fir cone crop, but developing ponderosa pine cones should be visible right now. Basically, look for lots of small purple cones on ponderosa branches (see attached photo for an example, taken on April 12 a few years ago). Come late June/early July, spruce and doug-fir will have similar small purple cones all over, if they are to have a good cone crop (attached is a not so great photo of that from July 6 two years ago).

Any information (even the absence of a good cone crop in an area) is greatly appreciated. The unpredictable nature of conifer cone crops and crossbills makes working on them an...interesting challenge, but the information you folks have given me over the past few years has made things go much more smoothly than I anticipated when I first started this project.

Good birding,
Cody Porter
Laramie, WY

[Stephen Chang]

Hi Cody,

Is there a protocol/standards that you might suggest that would qualify as a good cone crop in an area?

Stephen Chang

Boulder

[Cody Porter]

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your email. I don't have a well-defined protocol or standard for defining a good cone crop. I more or less think of good cone crops as something that you know when you see -- lots of small purple cones all over a tree, on most trees in a given area. Good ponderosa cone crops that I've worked on typically have a couple hundred to a thousand cones per tree. Good spruce and doug-fir crops often have 3-4 times that.

Put another way, you shouldn't have to work too hard to identify a good cone crop. Cone crops also tend to be quite similar across pretty long distances, so if on a casual hike you are noticing lots of developing cones on lots of trees, chances are the greater region is experiencing a good cone crop.

I hope that information is helpful.

Best,
Cody Porter
Laramie, WY