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Red Crossbill in Chapel Hill



   I have a short note of interest to Carolina birders in our area.  A
single male Red Crossbill visited my feeder at home this morning.  In the
rush of preparing for work, I nearly passed the bird off as a House Finch
with something dangling from its upper mandible.   The bird is a somewhat
aberrant in that it had the appearance of faint wing bars.  I consulted
Clement,  Harris and Davis (1993. Princeton).  This form of Red Crossbill is
described (p. 299 and a picture on p. 300) as being in a frequency of about
1:1000.  No White-winged Crosbill.  The bird visited the feeder three or
four times over about 10 minutes.  I went outside but could not hear any
crossbills calling.

Doug Shadwick
Chapel Hill, NC
dshadwick@oao.com