White-winged Crossbill:
I decided I needed to finally get a view of the White-winged Crossbills that are being seen throughout the metro area. Having no consistent spot in NJ I decided to make the trek north. Parksville (Brown Settlement Road) was about 2 1/2 hour drive for me so I just put in my mind it would be like driving to Cape May. 🙂 So, the WWCBs at that location have been viewed pretty consistently with the NY Bird list’s John Hass even saying “They haven’t been missed here in several weeks…” Sure enough when I arrived at around 2 PM I heard WWCBs calling and within minutes they had landed in the spruce trees around my car (pretty receptive to phishing). There were a few flocks that went though while I was there with the group I photographed containing approximately 9 birds. 1 Male, 6 Females and 2 juvenile birds. I got some pretty nice looks and photos but was disappointed I didn’t have a lot of light to explore the area fully. There were also plenty of Pine Siskin and Chickadees around. So if you are looking for success with these beautiful birds I highly recommend Brown Settlement Road in NY.
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