Sherry,

The best info. I can find, which may be what you have been looking at,
is THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRDS. On page 530 is found "Each type wanders
erratically in search of its preferred food, often co-occurring with
other types. Most are not reliably distinguished in the field and
should be identified only by careful analysis of tape recorded flight
calls."
Sibley ends his discussion on the next page with, "Consult the
technical literature for more details." This is way beyond duck, or
not a duck.

On one of my rare brother bonding experiences I was told that very
young Crossbills don't have cross bills. They work at it with a twig.

Larry Schwitters
Issaquah


On Wednesday, June 8, 2005, at 07:16 AM, Sherry Hagen wrote:

> I have heard that there are about 9 or so subspieces of Red
> Crossbills. That they are told apart by which way the bill crosses,
> location and calls.
> ?
> I was in the Spokane valley the third week in May visiting my sister
> who has Red Crossbills coming to her feeders for the first time. I
> photographed them hoping to get a better picture. As I looked at the
> digitals yesterday, I realized that she had two different bill crosses
> thus two different subspecies (I assume). I never heard them call.
> ?
> My Question:?Does anyone know where the subspecies are?? Are there two
> subspecies in Spokane? Which ones are there?
> ?
> ?
> Sherry Hagen
> Vancouver, WA
> littlebirder at pacifier.com
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