Red Crossbill

We hiked the one mile loop of Port Sheldon West Natural Area and saw four species. We were almost back to the car and we heard “chattering” above us. We were very surprised to see many Red Crossbills. We watched and photographed them for 3/4 of an hour when suddenly 30 birds took off because a Cooper’s Hawk flew through the pines behind them. Until the mass of birds flew, we had no idea there were so many as they were foraging hidden in the pine boughs. These birds were our first sighting of this species in Ottawa County. MI!