I was over in Eastern WA and we were shuttling kids on the White river road,
near Lake Wenatchee. We had about half an hour of down time and as we were
hanging out in the shade, down flew a group of 12 Pine siskins. They were
picking at the road and we wondered what they were getting. Then a group of
2 males and 4 female red crossbills dropped down into the same spot and
there was a bit of a scrum as the bigger crossbills tried to bully the
siskins. A couple of the siskins were not convinced. There was a great deal
of wing flapping and short chases. Within a couple of minutes the crossbills
emerged victorious and began picking at the same place. A car drove by and
they abandoned their post and we all walked over to see what the fuss was
about. There was nothing we could see that was worth fighting over, no bugs,
no seeds. Just the same dirt and gravel that was pretty much uniform across
the whole road. After we retreated back to the shade the crossbills
returned to the same place and began picking up something from the road. If
it was gravel, and I could not get a clear look, we wondered why that
particular place, since the whole road was covered with the same gravel. It
generated lots of discussion and ideas but it was beyond our monkey brains
to interpret.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
Snohomish, WA