Friday, February 5, 2021

First Lifer of 2021

There is still a long list of Saskatchewan birds we've never seen, or at least never identified.  Today the list got one bird shorter.

We identified our first White-winged Crossbill.  And second, and third, and fourth....  Ray estimated more than a dozen.  I was too busy trying to get a photo of a handsome male.  Unfortunately they were really, really high in a spruce tree so getting the perfect photo wasn't happening.

I got a pretty good one of a female

And a lot of partial views of the more colourful males.



It was a satisfying event, especially given how many times we've driven around Saskatoon staring up into tall spruce trees hoping for just such a sighting.  

(Crossbills are not interested in coming as far south as our farm, unfortunately, even though we are surrounded by spruce trees.)