Island Beach SP 11/28---Red Crossbill

"Kip, Kip, Kip," is the transliteration of the call flyover Red Crossbills give as they zip above your head, unseen. This being an irruption year--first the hordes of siskins, then the flocks of Evening Grosbeaks--I've been seeing reports of crossbills from all over the state, but today, walking through the parking lot at Island Beach during Scott's field trip, was the first time I've heard them this year. That I know of. When I see all these reports I'm led to wonder if I too haven't been below a flock of kipping crossbills and have been either too oblivious or too deaf to notice them. Today I heard the birds but in the way that you hear the refrigerator just as it turns itself off. I wasn't aware of the calls until Scott and David pointed them out. How many times in the last few weeks when I've been birding alone has this happened? No way to know. 

Actually, not only was it the first time I've heard Red Crossbills this year, it was the first time I'd ever heard them. All the other occasions that I've seen these birds they were quietly feeding, another trait they're known for--noisy on the fly, silent on the feed.  But, glad as I am to have them "on the list," especially for the county, I have to admit that a few kips in the morning air is not nearly as satisfying as viewing them. But despite looking at various conifers along the roadside and in the parking lots, those were the only the birds to make themselves manifest. 

For a beautiful fall day, with virtually no wind, which made sea watching not a torture, there weren't all that many birds to be found on the ocean (the usual ducks, loons and gannets), the bay (Buffleheads and Horned Grebes) or the trails (practically zip). Had I been birding solo, I'd chalk up the short list to my mediocre birding skills. With Scott and Linda leading the way, I know that the birds just weren't there. 

The one other species I was happy to see was the American Tree Sparrow that popped up on the Johnny Allen Cove trail. Not rare, but not ubiquitous either, a pretty little sparrow that for some reason I knock myself out to find early in the year. 

For the day we (Shari & I) had 34 species. 

Brant  125

American Black Duck  6    Bay side from A6

Common Eider  7    Hens flying south

Surf Scoter  17

White-winged Scoter  1    From Swimming Beach 1

Black Scoter  3

Long-tailed Duck  7

Bufflehead  150

Red-breasted Merganser  3

Horned Grebe  15    Bay side

Herring Gull  10

Great Black-backed Gull  2

Red-throated Loon  12

Common Loon  15

Northern Gannet  40

Double-crested Cormorant  20

Great Blue Heron  1    Spizzle Creek

Northern Harrier  1    Spizzle Creek

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Peregrine Falcon  1    On tower outside of park entrance

American Crow  1    Swimming Beach 1 parking lot

Carolina Chickadee  4

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1    In cedar outside park entrance

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

European Starling  8    Wire outside park entrance

Northern Mockingbird  6    

House Sparrow  4    Entrance feeder

House Finch  25

Red Crossbill  2    Heard kip kip kip flyovers

American Goldfinch  2    Heard

American Tree Sparrow  1    Johnny Allen

Dark-eyed Junco  2

Song Sparrow  1

Yellow-rumped Warbler  1

Photo of lizard-like root taken in dunes by Shari Zirlin