It ain't all that easy and not a sure thing. And a 3 ½ hour round trip from Federal Way. The birds have been around some time now, along with the Red Crossbills. And unless you get a clear view of the prominent white wingbars, they look a lot like their cousins.

We looked at thousands of cones within a few blocks of the Interpretive center without success for two hours. When we returned from a lunch break, there was a WWCR perched atop a distant evergreen tree, but a small bird 150 feet away is a photographic challenge. Soon, it moved to the cones directly behind the center. They sure can hide and blend in to the cones, often under a branch. We did see 12-15 crossbills sp fly over just before we left at 3pm.

Most of the photos on eBird have been ok for identification, but not photographic gems.

My photos are posted at www.pbase.com/alndonna - one on the top of the tree and one with two birds buried under the cones (look for the NEXT on the right side of the page).

Al in Tacoma