Red Crossbills at work

Four of us did the Calgary Christmas Bird Count up in the north east part of the city all day yesterday. We were very lucky to see these Red Crossbills high up in a Spruce tree, busy collecting seeds from the pine cones with their specially designed bills. Apparently, this was the first time that Red Crossbills had been seen on Count Day in this area. As you might guess, the bright red bird is a male, but I'm not good at telling the difference between females and young ones, that are yellowish green. Most of the time, these birds are half hidden amongst the cones - actually, from that distance, I wasn't sure if I was photographings cones or birds, ha. Guess I lucked out with this shot.

Tony (a superb birder with an amazing eye for seeing birds), was the leader for three of us. This was the 7th year he has covered this particular area. Thanks, Tony, for a most enjoyable and very interesting and rewarding day! The following information is the final list that he compiled:

The final tally was 26 species + 1 Accipter species (Sharp-shinned or Cooper's) in flight. We added four new birds to the area (Common Goldeneye, Red Crossbill, Rough-legged Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk).

Average numbers for Merlin 1, Downy W. 2, Flicker 5, Blue Jay 7, House Sparrow 750, Canada Goose 300, Red-breasted Nuthatch 12.

-Total Species 26 (Previous High 20)
-Rock Pigeon 97 (Previous High 75)
-Magpie 88 (Previous High 82)
-Raven 22 (Previous High 18)
-Crow 7 (Previous High 5)
-Brown Creeper 2 (Previous High 1)
-Bohemian Waxwing 238 (Previous High 80)
-Dark-eyed Junco 9 (Previous High 7)
-House Sparrow 750
-Common Redpoll 112 (Irruptive species, not seen every year)
-White-winged Cossbill 173 (Irruptive species)
-Red Crossbill 11 (Irruptive species)
-Pine Siskin 1 (Irruptive species)

-House Finches 197, numbers have been increasing in Calgary, since first recorded about 10 years ago.
-Robin 1, these birds are rare in winter in E5.
-Chickadee 11, low number, average 18.

And now, after two long days of walking (with the Banff/Canmore Bird Count done the day before the Calgary Count), I need to painfully hobble my way to various places to get some urgent errands done, most not even related to Christmas! I am so behind with everything - maybe next year I will be more organized. Funny, I seem to say the same thing year after year, though.