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We knew back in September when Red-breasted Nuthatches descended upon us en masse that this was to be an exciting winter for irruptive finches from the North. (I suppose in Canada they call them “eruptive” species, because they leave there to come here - which makes them “irruptive” from a lower 48 point of view.) Now it looks as though one of the grand prizes of a good irruption year has made its way to our little hamlet in the crosstimbers prairie. . .

I didn’t really want to go birding this morning - I’ve got a headcold and almost no voice. For us it was pretty danged cold too - 21F when we gathered at Couch Park in Stillwater at 8 am. I’ve certainly gone out when it’s colder than that, but I was in no way looking forward to that numbing pain in my fingers that I predicted would take about 5 minutes to kick in. (I was right about that.)

But I wanted to make sure we had a good showing for one of our Payne County Audubon Society weekly bird walks we’ve been trying to kick start. I knew some students and other interested folks would be out of town, so I made sure to drag myself there just to be another (temporarily) warm body.

As it turned out, we had three trip leaders but no new folks show up. Except, that is, for two guys from the newpaper who, entirely of their own accord, decided to come check us out. They were nice fellas - way underdressed for the cold - but we had a good time with them. The first hour of birding was slow, so we sent them on their way after that. Then, as soon as they were out of earshot, it seemed that the Earth burst forth with birds from every tree! (It is an inerrant law of nature, on par with that of gravity, that birds will appear for you immediately after the beginners on a trip leave - especially if those beginners include journalists and photographers.)

I was ready to leave too - my head was pounding and my fingers ached. But I noticed some movement on the ground ahead of me, down a path we hadn’t yet taken, so I stuck around a little longer.

It was a flock of goldfinches, juncos, 2 bluebirds, 2 yellow-rumped warblers, and a purple finch, feeding amidst fallen pecans on the trail. Odd bedfellows, we thought, but apparently the pecans themselves were a source of food for some, while insect larvae in the rotten nuts attracted the others. Over the next hour, that same patch of pecans on the ground hosted both red- and white-breasted nuthatches, and a red-bellied woodpecker.

white-breasted nuthatch on pecans:

see the brown creeper?

Then my attention was drawn to some yellow-rumps in a pine grove off the trail. There were just enough pines to consider a pine warbler for the grove, so I stopped to check it out. While I was in that grove, however, I heard something about 150m away that made my heart race: “jip! jip! jip!”

Could it be?

It was! A flock of about 20 Red Crossbills - a species I hadn’t seen in a good 10 years - were working over some trees closer to the creek. About half of these birds were doing what they were supposed to do - use their amazing crossed mandibles to extract pine nuts from closed cones. The other half apparently failed Crossbill 101 - they were feeding on pecans that were still on the trees!

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What a treat for having persevered this morning! The other birds were a delight as well, but it will be the crossbills that will keep drawing me to this city park over the next several weeks.

Today’s list for 8 - 10 am (#s approx):

carolina chickadee - 4
tufted titmouse - 2 (1 singing)
white-breasted nuthatch - 3 (2 singing)
red-breasted nuthatch - 8
winter wren - 2
carolina wren - 3
northern cardinal - 4
american goldfinch - 50
american robin - 50
dark-eyed junco - 20
yellow-rumped warbler - 10
blue jay - 10
american crow - 4
american kestrel - 1
red-shouldered hawk - 2
canada goose - 10
yellow-bellied sapsucker - 5
red-bellied woodpecker - 2
downy woodpecker - 2
common flicker - 2
cedar waxwing - 12
mourning dove - 1
eastern bluebird - 4 (1 inspecting a potential nest hole)
purple finch - 1
ruby-crowned kinglet - 6
golden-crowned kinglet - 1
brown creeper - 3
red crossbill - 20