Julie Smith asked me after a previous posting if the males were
singing but as I'd not paid much attention to crossbill song (as
opposed to calls) so I hadn't noticed.

Today I went back to the same area at 7am to see if I could find any
singing.

And I did! Two (I presume) males singing rather than calling. And
observed moving their beaks whilst singing as there are a lot of
others calling and I wanted to make sure they were singing. Both were
sitting in the top of a small fir(?) about 15m east of 20th Ave E and
E Roy. First one sang. Then a second arrived. The first one left. The
the second one sang. Then he left. In each case to head bacl to the
main body of the flock.

The song is not quite the same as in the eBird article below but is
similar to the Type 2 song. I presume these are one of the other
crossbill types but I didn't pay attention to their call speed but
Type 4, I think, comes closest (single variably spaced calls). But
the form of the song is a bit like a regularly repeated call plus
extras: wik-wik-wik-twiddle-twiddle (with variations)

<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/introduction-to%20crossbill-
vocalizations>
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/introduction-to%20crossbill-
vocalizations

Walking the half block up to 21th Ave E and E Roy to see the seed
cases falling light snow in the sunlight (the classic crossbill sign)
and a lot of crossbills in that big tree making a lot of noise
calling. This seemed to be the main part of the flock. They were also
dropping to a small single storey house on the southwest side of the
corner and feeding(?) on something in the moss on the roof.

I later walked along to 20th Ave E and E Prospect and the church
which had a small group (10+) red crossbills in the same location
that I had observed them yesterday. There were even more on the
church today.

Julie commented to me (but didn't send to the list ... a failing of
tweeters, IMHO) on an observation mentioned below.

On May 28, 2009, at 4:10 PM, Julie Smith wrote:

> They were likely eating grit. I have observed them getting grit
> from chimneys very often in the field. I would love to know if you
> hear them singing.

I saw them on the church today on the sun-illuminated cornice looking
down at a small ledge and against jumping down (and in some cases
hovering) and eating something. So I suspect they may be eating
something else too.

So they still appear to be on Capitol Hill in strength. And I'm
amazed how birdy that section of CapHill is. It's much less birdy in
all directions.

On May 28, 2009, at 2:46 PM, Kevin Purcell wrote:

> Once again that chunk of 20th Ave E seems really birdy especially
> in the morning (catching the early sun, perhaps?) with quite a few
> really big trees to perch in.
>
> The Red Crossbills are plentiful again today over a lot of Eastern
> Capitol Hill and Volunteer Park.
>
> I saw some interesting crossbill behavior today and yesterday on
> the brick Congregational church at 20th Ave E and E Prospect. The
> crossbills were clinging onto the brick frieze at the top of the
> building like house sparrows apparently eating something on the
> brick (insects? invertebrates?). Something I would have thought to
> be difficult with that beak (perhaps they use the tongue as they do
> with the seeds?). I guess they're more flexible than I thought they
> were. I supposed they have to be to eat when the conifer seeds
> aren't around.
>
> I saw a couple of Evening Grosbeaks yesterday (as mentioned) but
> none today. I presume they've moved on. Or I'm being less persistent.
>
> Also a couple of Western Tanagers and a pair of Spotted Towhees
> with one in song but I was not sure if they were a couple or a pair
> of males ... they were doing a step by step chase through the
> branches.
>
> On May 27, 2009, at 9:56 PM, pan wrote:
>
>> Greetings, all,
>>
>> This morning, at least two dozen RED CROSSBILLs were in Douglas
>> fir and
>> weedy sweet cherry trees on 19th Ave. between Mercer and
>> Republican on
>> Capitol Hill. I haven't seen nor heard Evening Grosbeaks for a
>> couple
>> of days. (There were at least 80 here a few days ago.)
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Alan Grenon
>> Seattle
>
> --
> Kevin Purcell
> kevinpurcell at pobox.com
>
>

--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com