I'm not sure why the holiday season makes me think of red crossbills. Memories of the colorful red birds adorning the green spires of fir and spruce during a snow squall may have something to do with it. Attractively colored, male crossbills vary from dull orange to brick red, sometimes with gold undertones. Females are stained with olive yellow plumage. Hardy creatures, crossbills are able to withstand the harshest winter weather nature can bring on, as long as food remains available. A finch relative, they are found throughout the foothills and mountains of Colorado.       

Red Crossbills

Like many others, this species has evolved by adapting to a specific food source. Crossbills use a pair of overlapping mandibles like a wedge to force apart the cone scales of pine, spruce, and fir. Their flexible, spoon-shaped tongues then remove the tiny winged seeds. Crossbill populations across northern and western North America have adapted and coevolved with many different pine species. These different evolving groups of red crossbills have now caused a lot of controversy among ornithologists. Is there one species and eight subspecies or are they eight distinct, but related crossbill species?

American Museum of Natural History: Crossbills Audio Visual Guide

Sociable birds, large flocks of crossbills work over the crowns of evergreens for seeds, announcing their presence with jeep-jeep calls. Nesting may occur anytime between the months of January and August-yes, crossbills have nested in mid-winter when the cone crop remains bountiful. Breeding males sing a bright twittering song, often in a courtship flight encircling the female as she sits in the crown of a fir tree. She will lay three to five light blue or green eggs flecked with brown spots, in a nest built of twigs rootlets, and strips of bark places in the needles of a pine. The young hatch in two weeks and leave the nest about two weeks later.

 Crossbills also have an internal adaptation for winter survival. About half-way down the crossbill esophagus, a pouch exists for storage of seeds, to help provide energy during cold nights or in extreme weather. Think of it as a midnight snack.

 Cone crops are seasonal and occasionally fail. In those years, crossbills may undergo a huge migration southward, known as an irruption. During this mass exodus, crossbill flocks and other finches may turn up in strange places searching for food.

All too often, crossbills are victims of auto collisions. Because they have a fondness for salt, they feed on road salt spread by highway crews to melt snow and ice-and many are killed by traffic along mountain passes.

Places to search for crossbills in Boulder County include Walker Ranch, Betasso Preserve, and other mountain parks. Crossbills seem to start appearing near feeders as the holidays approach. You do not need pine seeds to attract red crossbills-they thrive on oil sunflower as well.

Red Crossbill Photos, Videos, & Resource Links

· Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds: Red Crossbill

· Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Macaulay Library: Red Crossbill video #1

· Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Macaulay Library: Red Crossbill video #2

· Youtube (dwarvenfriend):   Red Crossbills at my Feeder

· Photos by Bill Schmoker: Red Crossbills

A.  My standard answer for almost everything is 'I don't know' and this is certainly the case for questions like this. Bird population dynamics are particularly tricky to figure out. (That's why you should count birds for Christmas Bird Count!) Without a rigorous scientific study of mountain chickadees, I will offer these guesses. Mountain chickadees are hardy birds, especially given their size. So I don't think cold weather has much to do with this influx. Besides, at least here, we have not had any cold weather to speak of. Food is often the reason bird populations shift in winter. These chickadees may have abandoned an area with low food resources in search of better ones. Locally, we always experience some shifting of the mountain bird populations attitudinally each year. This is a normal shift in response to cold, food, and snow cover. We also can't forget the birds displaced by the fires. Immediately after the fires, birds seemed to have only travelled as little as possible in order to avoid the burn area. We had many accounts from customers on the edge of the burn area that had dramatically increased bird numbers after the fire. These birds may now be the birds that have left the crowded edge areas of the burn site and have blessed us on the plains. It's hard to say the exact reason for so many mountain chickadees showing up this winter, but I do know that you should enjoy them while you can!

Mountain Chickadee

Q:  We have turkeys for the first time since we've lived here. Is that unusual?

A.  A lot of reports have come in since fall of customers with turkeys for the first time. The turkey population is on the increase so I expect that many more people will be seeing turkeys and having them in their yards. Locally, the turkeys inhabit both the foothills and plains riparian areas. Many customers want to know if they should feed the turkeys. I would tell you that is personal preference. If you enjoy seeing them and want them to be regular visitors, then go ahead. Turkeys will eat any kind of grain you put out, they are not too picky. However, they can eat a lot so many people feed them inexpensive seed like corn.

Turkey are on the increase all across the country. I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and my folks' house has woods all around it, but I never saw a turkey there or even thought it was a possibility. Now, there are turkey all over. It is quite common to see them every day either at my folks' house or in the neighborhood.