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Oconee County, SC NAMC - Crossbills



We had a windy, but otherwise beautiful fall day on Saturday for the Oconee 
county, SC NAMC. We started the day at the Walhalla Fish Hatchery, made a 
quick stop at Burrell's Ford and spent the afternoon along the Tugaloo 
River/Lake Hartwell looking for shorebirds (with no luck). The birding was 
slow and we didn't have huge numbers of anything. We ended up with 65 
species for the day. The highlights: 10 Red-breasted Nuthatches (7 at the 
Hatchery, 3 at Burrell's Ford), 2 Brown Creepers, 59 Broad-winged Hawks, 12 
species of warblers (nothing unusual), and a pair of Red Crossbills.

The Crossbills were an unexpected treat. They weren't at the Hatchery or 
Burrell's Ford, where we had commented on the good cone crop (white pine) 
and the possibility that Crossbills might be around. Instead, we found the 
birds sitting on a power line along a small pasture with no pines in the 
immediate area. Because of the habitat, I assumed they were House Finches 
when I first saw them. They were very cooperative and we had great looks 
from < 30 ft. The male even flew to the ground to feed in an area of bare 
dirt in the pasture, about 20 feet from where we were standing.

___________________________________________
Steve Wagner
Division of Biological and Physical Sciences
Lander University
Greenwood, SC 29649
Phone: (864) 388-8226, FAX (864) 388-8130
swagner@lander.edu

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