Date: 10/23/26 3:28 pm From: Doug Ward via Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders...> Subject: Re: [inland-NW-birders] Crossbills moving around
Mary, Thanks for replying and yep, these guys are very interesting and diverse! Red Crossbills are in the midst of evolutionary change with numerous "call types" developing that specialize in feeding on cones of specific conifer species. In our area the common Red Crossbill types are the Type 2 or "Ponderosa Crossbill" (larger/thicker and heavier billed to tackle big cones), the Type 4 or "Douglas Fir Crossbill" (medium sized with a narrower bill to get into Doug Fir cones), and the Type 3 or "Hemlock Crossbill" (tiny with a little bill to feed on hemlock and spruce cones). All of these guys wander widely in search of food, and can feed on seeds besides their preferred cones (will come into bird feeders too - mostly Type 2s in my experience), so you never know what will show up. The Inland Northwest is in the middle of the greatest diversity of Red Crossbills with eight (8) of the eleven (11) North American call types being recorded here; we've had five (5) types in our yard in Hayden, ID. While you can tell many of them apart if you get a good look at their head structure, the only definitive way to tell is to get a recording of their flight calls and looking at the spectrogram (a graphical representation of frequency and amplitude) as they each have a distinctive shape, hence the name "call type". I know this sounds all technical, and it is, but with gadgets we have today it is actually fairly straight forward to get a recording on your phone and "look" at the results - the Merlin app for your phone is the simplest to download and use.
Hope this wasn't too windy for you, but hope you do start looking at these common birds in our area in a new light. Thanks again. Good Crossbilling, Doug
-----Original Message----- From: Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders-bounces...> On Behalf Of potlatchMG via Inland-nw-birders Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2026 5:13 AM To: <inland-nw-birders...> Subject: Re: [inland-NW-birders] Crossbills moving around
Wow, I had no idea there were these specialized crossbills. Is there a source for more information about them that you would recommend (maybe you are it?)?
Thanks, Mary Giddings
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On Thursday, October 22nd, 2026 at 5:00 AM, <inland-nw-birders-request...> <inland-nw-birders-request...> wrote:
> Send Inland-nw-birders mailing list submissions to > <inland-nw-birders...> > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://mailmanlists.us/mailman/listinfo/inland-nw-birders > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > <inland-nw-birders-request...> > > You can reach the person managing the list at > <inland-nw-birders-owner...> > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Inland-nw-birders digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Crossbills Moving Around (Doug Ward) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2026 10:50:59 -0700 > From: "Doug Ward" <dougward...> > To: <inland-nw-birders...> > Subject: [inland-NW-birders] Crossbills Moving Around > Message-ID: <001c01dd6184$bc191280$344b3780$@frontier.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Don't know about you, but we've seen a lot of RED CROSSBILL activity > this past few weeks (Oct'26) around our place in Hayden (Kootenai Co., > ID). Most have been "Ponderosa" (Type 2) Red Crossbills, but have > also heard a number of "Douglas Fir" (Type 4) call types, and likely a small flock of "Hemlock" > (Type 3) crossbills as well - missed getting a recording of these > guys. The Ponderosa cone crop in our area is pretty slim this year, > with Douglas Firs being only OK, so thinking these birds are on the > hunt for a winter food crop somewhere. The ornamental spruces (mostly > Blue, but some hybrids) in the region are fairly heavily laden, but > haven't seen them being utilized yet - maybe a big year for "Hemlocks" > and White-wingeds?!? Would be interested to hear what you are seeing in your area. > > Good Crossbilling, > > Doug > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Inland-nw-birders mailing list > <Inland-nw-birders...> > https://mailmanlists.us/mailman/listinfo/inland-nw-birders > > > ------------------------------ > > End of Inland-nw-birders Digest, Vol 223, Issue 7 > ************************************************* > _______________________________________________ Inland-nw-birders mailing list send email to: <Inland-nw-birders...> manage subscription: https://mailmanlists.us/mailman/listinfo/inland-nw-birders
