Both Crossbills at Liberty Reservoir 1/2/97
Darius Ecker (dariuse@abs.net)
Fri, 2 Jan 1998 19:36:03 -0500
For those of you who might be considering a Saturday or Sunday Crossbill
Crusade, today we had both crossbills near Liberty Reservoir.
Two locations at least should be searched -
Deer Park Road -
Rt 32 north from Md 26. Then North(east) on 91, then right on Deer Park
Road. Stop at the second power line cut. Actually, you are very likely to
find either species anywhere between the first and second powerline cuts.
The second powerline cut is a good place because it's easy to see the
birds flying. While we were there today we saw 4 Red Crossbill, and a
flyby flock of 14 White-winged Crossbills. We saw the White-winged's while
walking the road between the two powerline cuts.
Pine Knob Road -
Again, Rt 32 north from Md 26. Turn right on Pine Knob Road and proceed
8/10 of a mile to a an obvious pine grove (more than 50 trees) and park
along the road. I've seen both species here, but my luck has found me more
Red Crossbills here, with just a few White-winged. We did see a beautiful
adult male White-winged here which held still long enough to get in the
scope. Again, just stand along the road (be careful, there's a bit more
traffic here) and watch for them to fly over. and listen. Another observer
had good luck here between 1 and 2 PM. My previous observations here have
also all been in the afternoon.
My wife just told me I've been spending too much time looking for
crossbills, so I guess I'll have to do something else this weekend.
Good Birding,
Darius Ecker (dariuse@abs.net)
Columbia, Maryland