Mixed flock of white-winged and red crossbills- Feb. 17

[beresford]

While on a hike with my son I came across a mixed flock of crossbills, made of mostly of white-wings at Long Sault Conservation area. It was on the east side of the main access road. A real surprise as I've only seen them there once before and that was three years ago. By my best guess there looked to be between 50-60 birds with close to a half dozen being red crossbills.

Also spotted:
-18 pine siskins- a nice sized flock moving through the woods with a large group of chickadees and nuthatches
-1 juvenile bald eagle did a flyover
-2rb, 3wb nuthatches
-2 downy, 1 hairy woodpecker
-1 brown creeper
-2 redtails
-1 N. shrike
-8 cedar waxwings
-3 robins
-17 wild turkeys

A lively afternoon hike!

Happy birding!

[beresford]

Just a quick note: I spotted the dark-morph western red-tail between on the 401 between the Stevenson and Simcoe exits. It was perched on a low pine on the wouth side. Sure wish it would perch somewhere other than the 401 so I could get a better look at it.

Cheers and happy birding!