These crossbill photos are from a couple of days ago. Two days before that I got a call from the world’s premier skunk researcher, well on her way to a PHD in same (Watch “Nature” on PBS January 25th to catch her and her favorite beasties in action), one Luanne Johnson, advertising about eighteen White-winged Crossbills on the spruces around her place in North Tisbury. By the time I got there, in windy but fair weather, that number had bumped to around 35 by my count. At first it seemed like the birds were not to be found. I was sick as a dog, but managed to hang out until I caught sight of one. If you see one, well, there’s no telling how many are working away on the spruce cones until they take off in a blizzard of wings, chattering away.
Now, for the faithful amongst you who have gotten this far in the interest of sharing the spruces with the crossbills, I direct you to a curious and rewarding video about owls, owls in captivity in Japan. We beseech your patience in waiting for the good parts.
It’s worth it. Follow this link - http://www.magnificentfrigatebird.com/blog/morphing-owl-video/ and let me know if you like me to post the odd bird-related clip.
Birds are cool! Lanny These images and more are available for purchase. Contact me or View store.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Tom Pirro 01.10.09 at 6:32 pm
Nice shots of the WW Xbills….I have been fortunate to see my share this fall/winter, unfortunately all but one (and that wasn’t too close) have been “fly-overs”.
Lanny McDowell 01.10.09 at 9:02 pm
Tom: There’s another thing about crossbills – when you do find them, typically they are at the top of a conifer tall enough at least to have cones, likely at the fringe of camera focus. There is no photo I posted of a closeup that really has spot-on focus going for it. Not a really satisfying state of affairs, shooting so far off I can’t tell if the focus is accurate.
Lanny McDowell 01.10.09 at 9:07 pm
Well, I kinda take that back, in that the photo close-ups are OK. It’s just I can’t tell how they’ll turn out when I take the shot, because of the distance. And the warbler neck!
Amy 01.11.09 at 2:42 pm
Nice photos! I keep reading reports of crossbills all around us, but when we go look for them we aren’t so lucky.
Lanny McDowell 01.12.09 at 11:12 am
To some degree I think they have to find you. They move within a different stratus of the sphere.