Last of Three High Elevation Target Birds, Blue Ridge Parkway, May 23, 2020

When I moved to western NC I had 3 possible state bird targets that were most likely to be found in the higher elevations of the mountains – Ruffed Grouse, Saw-whet Owl, and Red Crossbill.  I was lucky enough to find a pair of Ruffed Grouse back in March 2020 at the Pisgah Campground along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  And in April 2020 I was able to hear a stakeout Saw-whet Owl amazingly at lower elevations in eastern Henderson County.  That left Red Crossbill as my last high elevation target bird. 

Inserted below is a screen shot of the eBird distribution map for Red Crossbill in the NC mountains over just the last 3 years.

At first blush it would look like Red Crossbill is a common bird that can be seen throughout the mountains.  In reality, they are generally only found in spruce/fir forests, though admittedly that habitat is located in many places in the higher mountains.  And they are quite rare even in the proper habitat.  The following description of their range in the NC mountains comes from “Birds of North Carolina: their Distribution and Abundance” -

Summer resident at higher elevations, and winter visitor to all of the region. In summer, rare to locally uncommon at higher elevations, mainly at spruce-fir forests, generally above 4,500 feet; very rare to rare and erratic in summer down to about 3,000 feet. Breeding populations seem to be stable. At other seasons, rare and erratic at lower and middle elevations, with numbers declining in recent years.

And even when you are lucky enough to find them, they are often heard-only birds, or at best birds seen in flight as they are passing by.  Perhaps the day you see them perched might be a good day to play the lottery. 

My first try for Red Crossbills in NC was the day that I had the Grouse at the Pisgah Campground.  There are several conifer patches in and around the campground, and there were some Crossbill records from the area in previous years, so I was definitely on the alert.  But I had none the day I was there, nor on a subsequent trip to the campground, despite what looked to be an excellent cone crop.

The bottom line is you need to be very observant whenever you’re in appropriate spruce/fir forest.  And of course knowing their call notes is a big help.  Not to mention being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time is always beneficial.

On May 23rd, local birding friend Dave Minnich, Sidney Snyder – a new birder to the area, and I were participating in the annual Black Mountains bird count.  Our assigned territory was along the Blue Ridge Parkway on the Mountains to Sea trail from NC 128 (the road to Mount Mitchell) to the Walker Knob Overlook.  This was about 5-6 miles long and included the ridgeline going up to Potato Knob.  Normally we would leave a car at one end of the trail, carpool to the other end, and hike the entire trail in one direction.  But it’s tough to carpool while social distancing, so we decided to park all our cars at the Overlook, bird a portion of the trail, then double back to the cars.  Certainly not the best approach to census the area, but the right strategy to use all things considered.

Our entire territory would be in the higher elevation forests.  The lowest point was at the parking area at Walker Knob Overlook at 5,300 feet.  The highest point would be along the ridgeline at Blackstock Knob at 6,200 feet.  This should be great for those high elevation breeders.  Including of course, the Red Crossbill.

I was the first to arrive at the parking area and decided to bird around the car while I waited for Dave and Sidney.  The habitat right at the parking area was very nice with mature conifers in nearly every direction.  The trees were full of singing Golden-crowned Kinglets and Black-throated Green Warblers.  A pair of Sharp-shinned Hawks flew overhead, toying with each other as if in courtship.  And a single Pine Siskin passed almost directly overhead, giving its classic call.  It was like I was back in the boreal forests of northern New England that I visited many times while living there the last couple decades.

And then just a short distance I away I heard the sharp “kip-kip-kip” calls of the Red Crossbill.  I followed the call notes as multiple birds flew from one side of the road to the other, though unfortunately I never saw them.  I hoped that they might have landed in one of the trees nearby, but despite lots of scanning I could not relocate them.  They must have been nearby flyovers that just kept going.  Good enough to add to my NC list as #298, but I sure wish I could have seen them, even if just as flyovers.

A few minutes later Dave and Sidney arrived, and we started our walk up the Mountain to Sea trail.  Although we only had 24 species during the 3-hour walk, there were some really nice ones, likely all breeding.  Key birds on the trip – Blue-headed Vireos, many Golden-crowned Kinglets, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Creepers, Winter Wrens, Veery, Hermit Thrushes, Juncos, and Blackburnian and Black-throated Green Warblers.  One of the highlights was a bonded pair of Canada Warblers that were so tame that at times they came within 5 feet of us.  And up near the ridge we had another flyover calling Red Crossbill.  Alas, again heard only.

My statebird map for Red Crossbill is inserted below.  Solid shaded states are those where I’ve seen or heard this species; cross-hatched states are those where this species is regular though I’ve yet to catch up with them.  I still need this species in a lot of states.  Though a note on Idaho is in order – although I still need Red Crossbill in that state I’ve seen the endemic Cassia Crossbill there.