Richard Trinker just reported to eBird an observation of juvenile red crossbills at low elevation eating sunflower seed obtained from flowers at a public garden in Boulder. I had the same exact experience yesterday in two different yards on the east side of Fort Collins. The individuals I watched were young enough to have mostly straight beaks. Their vocalizations were a better way to quickly discern their not being house finches than their general appearance. Juveniles have also been at Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins recently. It has been suggested this might indicate local, urban breeding. However, Richard’s and the Fort Collins observations suggest to me a widespread Front Range shift of young birds to low elevation of unknown duration to take advantage of an abundant, easy to obtain nutrition source.
The next issue of “Colorado Birds” has a “The Hungry Bird” article on crossbills foods OTHER THAN conifer seed but I didn’t say much about sunflower seed and juveniles because the literature doesn’t address it and I hadn’t personally seen it before yesterday. Dave Leatherman Fort Collins Sent from my iPhone -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/PH7PR12MB7354DD6DA3FADFAC4D102DFDC1E6A%40PH7PR12MB7354.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.
