[Tweeters] Cassia and Types 2, 3, 4, 5, + Red Crossbills in Calif and on the move

[Steve Hampton]

Tweeters,

I'm forwarding this remarkable email from CalBirds, as mountain birds are
on the move throughout the West. This could happen in WA this winter as
well.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: George Chrisman via groups.io <geodani55=yahoo.com at groups.io>
Date: Mon, Nov 20, 2023 at 7:54 AM
Subject: [CALBIRDS] Cassia CrossBILL and Type 2,3,4,5,+ Red Crossbills at
Skylawn Cemetery, San Mateo County, CA
To: <CALBIRDS at groups.io>


Greeting Birders,
On Tuesday November 14, I birded Skylawn Cemetery along Highway 92 between
San Mateo & Half Moon Bay in San Mateo County hoping to photograph and
record Crossbills. There have been Cassia Crossbills reported here over the
past 2 weeks. I parked near the Bodhisattva statue at the top of the
cemetery. After waiting for about an hour with virtually no activity, I
started my car to leave and as I was pulling away, I heard a huge flock of
35 Crossbills circling above me and eventually landed on the statue and
fountain. My first instinct was to get some pictures of the birds on the
statue that was only about 50-75 feet away from where I was parked. After
taking about a dozen photos, I activated my Merlin sound app on my iPhone
and made a recording of the chattering birds from the front seat of my car.
After about one minute, the flock took off and scattered. About one minute
later, presumably another flock of Crossbills circled from above and landed
on the fountain. Again I recorded them as they moved in and landed on the
statue and in the fountain below. Not sure what types of Crossbills they
were, I sent my eBird checklist https://ebird.org/checklist/S154451675
<https://ebird.org/checklist/S154451675>to Matt Young and Tim Spahr at the
FinchNewtwork.org  Here is their response:

"Hi George, this is one of the most incredible crossbill checklists I've
ever seen. You have Type 2, 3, 4, 5, and Cassia.  And you have one bird we
can't place between Type 7 and Type 12.

The loudest calls in ML611129085 are Type 3.
In ML611129086 you have:

Type 5 best viewed around 5.2-5.4 seconds
Cassia at 22.6 seconds
Type 4 starts up around 24 seconds
Type 2 around 37 seconds.
There is a bird calling around 38 seconds (spectra look like an upside-down
check mark) that Matt and I can't place between Type 12 and Type 7.  It has
been there for several weeks.

Amazing stuff, congrats!!
Tim"

I will be revising my eBird Checklists to reflect their analysis. I'm not
sure how to document or separate my photos with all of the different types,
but I'll give it my best shot. I can separate the two sound recording and
reference the time locations from their notes. Very Cool Experience!

George Chrisman
Burlingame, CA
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-- 
Steve Hampton
Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)
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