Red Crossbills at Conimicut Point

 

The best photo I got today.

    It has been a long time since I wrote anything on this blog. There have been a a variety of reasons for my lack of writing. Last week I worked a ton of hours and slept when I wasn't at work. When I did get a day off, I didn't have very good luck finding my targets. I wanted to do a post about wood frogs but the vernal pool closest to my house was frogless. This weekend I went to Provincetown to watch for migrating whales but all I found was a strong east wind. 

  Finally, today, I have something to write about. After work I went to Conimicut Point in Warwick to look for the Red Crossbills. The Crossbills have been there for over a week. There are a couple dozen Pitch Pines along the parking lot that are loaded with pine cones. The good news is the birds feed on the pine cones most every day. The bad news is they don't seem to stay at Conimicut when they aren't feeding. 

   Luckily for me, after about half an hour of looking through the pines I found a small band of Red Crossbills. They have been very cooperative for many photographers and I have seen some fantastic photos. However, while I was there, the birds seemed to stay in the deepest part of the tree. It was tough to see the whole bird never mind get great photos. None the less, the Crossbills stuck around for at least forty five minutes and I was patient..

   My friend Richard Tucker showed up and we watched the birds until they flew off. As best we could tell there were at least two females, one adult(ish) male, and two juvenile males in the tree. With the two of us looking through binoculars and camera lenses, we drew quite a crowd. At one point we had a dozen other people staring into the tree with us. When the birds flew away so did we.

I know the Crossbills were very cooperative this morning though I do not know the time. I was there from about 3 pm until 4:25. I probably saw the first one about 3:45. If you go, there is plenty of parking. There aren't two many trees to look at so if they are there you should find them.