Owls! It's About Time....

I managed to see 2 Screech Owls on Sunday, a red and a gray. The first of the day was sunning itself along the road in West Newbury with lots of small birds for company.

The second in a tree they've been using for several years just down the road from the house at the end of the day.

I had a gray Screech in this hole back on Nov. 4th, wouldn't it be nice to see them both using this location!

Salisbury Beach State Reservation and all of the Crossbills that have descended on the Pines around the campground have attracted a pair of Merlin with one of them sitting long enough for this shot.

White-winged Crossbill 11-13-12

White-winged Crossbill 11-13-12, a photo by nebirdsplus on Flickr.

Another White-winged Crossbill, this from earlier in the week on a rainy Tuesday.

A few more images on my Flickr site at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebirdsplus/

A brief video of the Crossbills bathing alongside the road.

White-winged Crossbills - Nov. 13, 2012 from Phil Brown on Vimeo.

White-winged Crossbill 11-14-12

White-winged Crossbill 11-14-12, a photo by nebirdsplus on Flickr.

We've had a spectacular influx of winter finches across the country this fall with 300 - 400 White-winged Crossbills settling into the pines at the Salisbury Beach State Reservation. Hopefully loads more to come from this location this late fall and winter.

More photos on my Flickr site at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebirdsplus/

Red Crossbill Calls - Nov 12, 2012

A visit to Salisbury Beach State Reservation on Monday, November 12, 2012 found 300 or so White-winged Crossbill foraging in the Pines around the campgrounds. Among them were at least 3 Red Crossbill, one of which, a male, can be seen below. 

A return visit on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 armed with my cell phone and the knowledge that the flight call of a Red Crossbill could id it to type found me roaming the campground for a short while before I managed to record the brief 3 second flight call which can be heard below.

Red Crossbill flight call - Nov 13, 2012

I ran the wav file through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Raven Pro software and came up with the audio spectograph you see below, a pretty good match to "type 3" Red Crossbill.

I also sent the wav file off to Matt Young at the Cornell Lab, he confirmed it to be a type 3 Red Crossbill.

A comparison of all of the Red Crossbill types can be found on the Labs web site HERE