Subject: [Tweeters] Cassia Crossbill success
Date: Tue May 11 21:17:28 PDT 2021
From: Rachel Lawson - rwlawson at q.com

Thanks again to all of you who sent us information about where to find Cassia Crossbills. We got back today from a very successful expedition to Idaho.

We started our search at Diamondfield Jack Campground on Friday, 5/7. We arrived at the parking lot at about 7am and immediately heard what sounded like Cassia Crossbills. We soon found a group of nine birds perched quietly at the top of a subalpine fir, perhaps warming up in the sun. They all flew out at once, calling as they went. Back at the parking lot, two birds flew over us that sounded more like Type 5 Red Crossbills.


>From near the entrance to Diamondfield Jack Campground, we then went 500 yards up the dirt road towards Pike Mountain. At 42.17650, -114.27650, we found a group of three Cassia Crossbills in a lodgepole pine, picking at the cones. They also called as they flew off.


We returned to Diamondfield Jack Campground, and Joseph spotted a group of four more Cassia Crossbills coming down to feed on some fallen lodgepole pine branches close by. When they flew, they went right over our heads, and one of them even flew between us, so close that we felt its wingbeats.

There were lots of other birds in the area. We were especially pleased to see a pair of Williamson's sapsuckers.

Rachel Lawson and Joseph Brown
Seattle
<rwlawson at q.com>



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