Maybe it's a new species, Red Crossbill Type #9!

Gene Hunn.

At 12:42 PM 3/21/98 PST, you wrote:
>Tweeters and Scott,
>
>I regularly see red crossbills in my neighborhood working on pine cones
>in ornamental plantings. I've seen them in Japanese Black Pine,
>Japanese Red Pine, Longleaf Pine, Italian Stone Pine and once in a Dwarf
>White Pine right at ground level. Could it be they are "learning" to
>exploit this new food source in suburban areas? Could be to a crossbill
>that a cone is a cone, and when we wipe out the Hemlocks, Western White
>Pines and Lodgepoles that they are used to finding in certain areas they
>just turn to our (poorly) selected replacements.
>
>Rob Conway
>Bellevue, WA
>
>robin_conway at hotmail.com
>
>= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = == = = = = = = = = = = = =
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>
>>Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 22:35:34 -0800 (PST)
>>Reply-To: sdownes at u.washington.edu
>>From: "S. Downes" <sdownes at u.washington.edu>
>>To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>>Subject: Out of place Red Crossbill
>>
>>Tweets,
>>I was tending to my bonsai on the deck this afternoon, and heard and a
>>bird rustling around in the almost ripe pine cones of apartment grounds
>>next to our deck. I looked up and a male Crossbill was trying to
>extract
>>the seeds that were a bit premature.Not a normal food source anyhow
>>(Ornamental pine species). I wondered what could possess a Red
>>Crossbill to try a get premature seeds out of what are the only trees
>with
>>cones for about a block (and even at that only about twenty feet tall).
>Strange.
>>Can't seem to manage to coax a Rufous hummer to our feeder yet two
>small
>>pine trees attract a Red Crossbill, go figure. This is across the
>street
>>from Bitter Lake if anybody is interested.
>>
>>Scott Downes
>>sdownes at u.washington.edu
>>Seattle WA
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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