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= TheReview Wednesday, December 16, 1992 — A19

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Outdoors ;

RED CROSSBILL

CY HAMPSON photo

Terrible housekeeper, easy io phoiograph

Mildred Whitechurch of Loch-
side Drive telephoned about an
interesting bird which had flown
into their window and failed to
survive the impact.

It tumed out to be a female red
crossbill with very specialized
mandibles for wresting the seeds
from conifer cones.

Both upper and lower compo-
nents of the beak are somewhat
elongated with the tips sharply
curved, the lower one upward and
to one side, the upper one down-
ward and to the opposite side.

In use, the two members cross
over one another, assisting the bird
in extracting the tough seeds from
among the surrounding cone
scales (see photo).

Crossbills are unique in other
ways as well. While they generally
travel in small flocks their appear-
ance in any given area is never
predictable. They are our nomads,
the Arabs of the bird world, con-
Stantly on the move from one
favorable feeding area to another.

True wanderers, seldom return-
ing to the same. area on consecu-
tive years, their movements are
undoubtedly dictated by the availa-
bility of preferred food items.

In addition, red crossbills do not
have regular breeding seasons as
do most of our birds. Across their
broad range, they have been known
to breed in any month of the year.

Like Homo sapiens? You got it.

Mildred’s interesting record
sparks my memory. Years ago,
while teaching at the University of
Alberta, red crossbills turned up
on the campus early one spring
and remained to breed. A small
flock had visited the area 10 years
earlier but moved on after a brief
stay; we had not recorded any in
the interim.

But on this particular year a pair
built a mide nest high on a horizon-
tal branch of a pine tree along the
sidewalk leading to the Zoology
Building. —

_The female laid four bluish
green eggs, spotted in browns and
lavender and began incubating.

While it was not difficult to
scale the tree to check the nest,
photographing the birds at the nest
was another story.

Fortunately, our gymnasium had
just been redecorated throughout
and the scaffolding used to reach
the high walls and ceiling had not
been carted off. _

Our caretakers kindly offered to
erect a square of them alongside
the pine tree in which the cross-
bills were nesting. I fetched one of
my canvas bird blinds, secured it
on a platform atop the scaffolding
and was soon in business photo-
graphing my first red crossbills.

Few people had any idea of what
was going on away up there, but
the birds were very cooperative,
incredibly tame and not in the
least disturbed.

The female did all the incubat-
ing but the male took regular turns
in feeding the strangely black little
chicks.

I have never worked with a pair

of birds less interested in house-
keeping. Though handsome and
well groomed themselves, none of

the copious whitish droppings of -

the chicks were ever removed from
the site.

In no time, the nest itself was
tinged with conspicuous excre-
ment.

“Why bother?” seemed to be
the sentiment. “We'll be moving
on in a few days, never to return.”

And so they did, these non-
conforming, casual, carefree hill
billies of the bird world.

THANK YOU
Steve & Sandy &
“the Boaters Exchange”
The props you supplied
helped make our Christ-
mas concert a success.

Parents and Children of

CORDOVA BAY
SCHOOL

CONGRATULATIONS |
TO OUR WINNER.

Mrs. Griffey of Sidney is the winner of
our recent Dinner for 2 contest for a
meal at Captain Bissett’s

OPEN
Mon.-Sat.
9a.m.-11p.m.—

1 tam. 11pm. fe otel

- CONVENIENTLY LOCATED ON

the waterfront

(‘Sidney 656-4121

&,

STOCKING STUFFERS
GIFT CERTIFICATES

< v4) $4 00 a $500
DA en Denominations
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