Crossbills

[Luke Pheneger]

Hello all,

I’ve been doing a lot of birding in coniferous habitats in Colorado’s Central Mountains this April as I travel between various grouse leks. The Pinyon Pine cone crop in Chaffee County has been splendid with many Type 2 Red Crossbills feeding on them. In the Lodgepole country  there have been some Type 2 and Type 5 Red Crossbills, but a good number of the crossbills I’ve been hearing in Summit, and Lake County that are not type 2s have been giving Cassia flight calls. I have only been able to record 3 of the Cassias so far (Lake and Summit), but I heard one in Clear Creek which would be a first county record if someone were able to obtain documentation. The Summit Cassia(s) have been visiting feeders for about a week and a half now but I was only able to record them yesterday. The Lodgepole Cone crop is a bit underwhelming right now which might be the reason that Cassias are visiting feeders. Despite spending most of the day on Cameron Pass today we did not find any crossbills of any type. 

The spruce cone crop is still very good in all of these locations but I haven’t observed any crossbills feeding on them this month, especially none with white on their wings. 

Of course these are just my observations, so I’m excited to hear if others are noticing anything different!

Best,

Luke Pheneger