Red Crossbill madness hits Seattle! (They're a bird, not a team)

Since our original post about Red Crossbills at the Maple Leaf Life feeders (they’re still here, incidentally), reports have come in from all over town.

Today on that first post Lynda noted: “I started seeing these crossbills (8900 block of 12th Ave NE) at my feeder at Easter and it took me a while to identify them because all three were females which don’t have much color. Today one female was joined by a male; quite colorful!”

We also posted to the Washington state bird listserve, Tweeters. Here are some updates from Wednesday, April 10:

Here, meaning, Phinney/Ballard, where I just spotted a couple of Red Crossbills at our feeders.

What a nice surprise, especially because I’d failed in my search for them lately in some of the taller trees and pines in our hood.

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To chime in about apparently ubiquitous crossbills, my son-in-law reported to us that on Fri 4/5, he saw a pair virtually at his feet in the lot where he parks for work in back of the SODO Showbox. They were feeding on fallen cones. I guess that for this year, anyway, they are urban birds!

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Seeing as how many others have reported their Red Crossbills in the last day or two I will add my two cents worth. I had a small flock of about 8-12 Red Crossbills in my yard two blocks south of Green Lake (North Seattle) yesterday morning for the first time. The were bathing in my waterfall (not all of which is visible from my office – there may have been several more). A delight to see.

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Red Crossbills over here, too. In the tall pines just inside the 3rd NW/145th St entrance of Llandover Woods in North Seattle (also a favorite woodpecker haunt). Can’t get enough of those pinecone-pecking passeriformes!