Exciting account. Thanks for posting.
On Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 10:46 AM Steve Hampton <
stevechampton at gmail.com>
wrote:
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Tweeters,
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I'm forwarding this remarkable email from CalBirds, as mountain birds are
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on the move throughout the West. This could happen in WA this winter as
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well.
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---------- Forwarded message ---------
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From: George Chrisman via groups.io <geodani55=yahoo.com at groups.io>
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Date: Mon, Nov 20, 2023 at 7:54 AM
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Subject: [CALBIRDS] Cassia CrossBILL and Type 2,3,4,5,+ Red Crossbills at
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Skylawn Cemetery, San Mateo County, CA
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To: <CALBIRDS at groups.io>
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>
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Greeting Birders,
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On Tuesday November 14, I birded Skylawn Cemetery along Highway 92 between
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San Mateo & Half Moon Bay in San Mateo County hoping to photograph and
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record Crossbills. There have been Cassia Crossbills reported here over the
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past 2 weeks. I parked near the Bodhisattva statue at the top of the
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cemetery. After waiting for about an hour with virtually no activity, I
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started my car to leave and as I was pulling away, I heard a huge flock of
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35 Crossbills circling above me and eventually landed on the statue and
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fountain. My first instinct was to get some pictures of the birds on the
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statue that was only about 50-75 feet away from where I was parked. After
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taking about a dozen photos, I activated my Merlin sound app on my iPhone
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and made a recording of the chattering birds from the front seat of my car.
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After about one minute, the flock took off and scattered. About one minute
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later, presumably another flock of Crossbills circled from above and landed
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on the fountain. Again I recorded them as they moved in and landed on the
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statue and in the fountain below. Not sure what types of Crossbills they
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were, I sent my eBird checklist https://ebird.org/checklist/S154451675
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<https://ebird.org/checklist/S154451675>to Matt Young and Tim Spahr at
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the FinchNewtwork.org Here is their response:
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"Hi George, this is one of the most incredible crossbill checklists I've
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ever seen. You have Type 2, 3, 4, 5, and Cassia. And you have one bird we
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can't place between Type 7 and Type 12.
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The loudest calls in ML611129085 are Type 3.
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In ML611129086 you have:
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Type 5 best viewed around 5.2-5.4 seconds
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Cassia at 22.6 seconds
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Type 4 starts up around 24 seconds
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Type 2 around 37 seconds.
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There is a bird calling around 38 seconds (spectra look like an
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upside-down check mark) that Matt and I can't place between Type 12 and
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Type 7. It has been there for several weeks.
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Amazing stuff, congrats!!
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Tim"
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I will be revising my eBird Checklists to reflect their analysis. I'm not
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sure how to document or separate my photos with all of the different types,
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but I'll give it my best shot. I can separate the two sound recording and
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reference the time locations from their notes. Very Cool Experience!
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George Chrisman
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Burlingame, CA
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--
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Steve Hampton
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Port Townsend, WA (qatáy)
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>
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