[CT Birds] Redpoll update, Hammo, Harkness

[Mntncougar at aol.com]

As I suspected they would be, the Redpolls are back  in my yard in force 
since the weather turned colder and snowier again.   Today I finally counted over 
100 -  103 - in my yard at 1 time, and I'm  sure there are more than that, as 
they are in and out constantly when the flock  is here .  More often I have 
between 12 and 30, and sometimes none at all  for quite a while.    
Unfortunately, I have not seen any of the pale  Hoary candidates recently, and they may 
have moved on.  This seems to be a  very loose flock, or perhaps more than 1, 
because of the wide variation in  numbers I see.  
Yesterday I stopped at Hammo and Harkness Memorial and saw  mostly the usual 
suspects.  I saw only 1 male Red Crossbill, although  some people told me they 
saw 4.  I'm afraid they may have pretty much  exhausted the seed supply from 
the cones in the trees at the west end.  It  appears to me that only the last 
few trees at the west end have current year  cones, and not all of them have 
opened to give access to the  seeds.    If there are other trees with cones 
elsewhere it's  possible the Crossbills may still be there.  There was also 1 
Lapland  Longspur mixed in the flock of Horned Larks at the west end parking 
lots.   A patrolling Harrier kept them pretty edgy.
Don Morgan
Coventry



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