I tried in vane to run them down to some pine/spruce trees back closer to the parking area, but I'm confident in the identification even though it was a short fly over. This time of year nothing else could possibly match them for size, flight, calls. Later at home I listened to call notes of the many types of Crossbill and figured them to be the huskier voiced Type 2.
All of this happened while another friend was able to put Peter Nichols on a Northern Saw-whet owl at Carpenter Nature Center. (A bird I had also found myself the day before at a different location.) The owl put Peter up to 234 county species on the year and me lagging by 1 again in our year long cooperative competition for high species count. Then with the Crossbills coming over top of me I was quickly back into a preferred tie with him with 234. Preferred because I'm not sure either of use wants to actually end with a higher number than the other at this point. What an exciting year for both of us in Washington County though to be able to put up so many species and continually work together and with other birding friends to see how big the year can get for us both.
With that in mind we both planned to meet at Carpenter in the morning on Sunday (11/5) in hopes of catching good winds and a potential Golden Eagle flight.
I arrived with the time change added sleep at 8AM at Carpenter with a lot of wind and plenty of chill to go around. Layered deep with thermals I setup on the walkway facing north.
I spent about an hour and half on the property alone watching morning flight and picking my way around the grounds looking to add day birds. (I had already picked up a mega flock (100+) of Lapland Longspurs and Northern Shrike prior to entering the property so I was keenly aware of the numbers thinking that if Carpenter went well I should go for 41 and break the November record for the county. Fortune rolled early as a large flock of mixed blackbirds rested in some trees nearby giving me Red-winged Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird, Starling, and Common Grackle. Though no Golden Eagles came in the early morning or after Peter arrived we had plenty of species come over that were the only ones seen on the day. (Eastern Bluebird fly over, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Sharp-shinned Hawk.)
The winds never really cooperated and seemed to pull around in such a way as to negate the quality St. Croix River flight we had hoped for the day before. We exited and left my car behind as Pete offered to drive a quick circuit and see what we could pick up while keeping an eye on the sky for possible Golden Eagle. The lock and damn area with Washington on the far shore offered up our only looks at American White Pelican and Double-crested Cormorant. We then drove an agriculture dirt road circuit back to Carpenter hoping to pick up a lingering American Kestrel or any of a number of other potential species, but had to settle for a good look at Rough-legged Hawk and a small group of Mourning Doves.
I then set off on my own again to look at a few other key locations before heading north again. I was able to find a few Hooded Merganser at Hazen Mooers and had a duck flying away from me that was likely a Common Goldeneye, but it was distant enough and moving away from me that I couldn't call it to species with any confidence.
Peter had pinged me that he was still seeing Purple Finch, Brown Creeper, and White-throated Sparrow at his place knowing I was unlikely to have seen them anywhere else at this point and that I was serious about putting up 40+ on the day. I made plans with the wife to have a late lunch and had enough time to zip over to Pete's place first. The feeders were dead for about 10 or 15 minutes until things started heating up. We got White-throated Sparrow calling in the woods and soon after 3 Purple Finch dropped into the tree tops and eventually came down to a platform feeder. While this happened we picked up the call notes of a pair of Brown Creeper in the woods as well. All 3 being the only examples I would see on the day. This 3 species gift I knew would be critical for the record as I couldn't think of another location where any of those would even be close to a sure thing.
On the way home I took a frontage road off HWY 94 I knew to have a potential Wild Turkey and was rewarded with a single bird behind a strip mall on the edge of a field. Heading to lunch a bit later I hoped for a few locations with some historically present House Sparrows, but was not able to find any in locations I knew them to frequent in the summer months.
Undaunted I figured I had the ace up my sleeve for 3 more species needed to break the record. Lake Elmo park the day before had at least 4 species on Eagle Point Lake alone that would get me what I needed. I walked with scope over my shoulder to the first duck blind, picking up American Tree Sparrow along the way (a bird missed at Carpenter likely because a pair of Northern Shrike were hunting heavily in the area they normally occur with high numbers) and thinking the day was pretty much done with just 2 species needed.
At the duck blind however I found all my prior day species were gone from the lake and it was empty and wind blown. Thinking this had just moved to a much more challenging task I hoped for something on the small retention lake behind the Nordic center was able to find 3 Pied-billed Grebe diving actively. The number was 40 now and I had at least tied the record. My thought was that I'd need a gift on Lake Elmo itself to prevent me from having to drive further north in search of more duck species. As I drove the road back to the boat launch I recalled the prior day my first ever November White-crowned Sparrow I found randomly mixed with Dark-eyed Junco. I didn't really expect such a bird to be findable considering they were just roadside birds with no trail nearby or parking spots. I came over a rise and a couple birds flushed up over the hood of the car and one I knew for certain was not Junco. I jammed on my brakes and dropped the window looking a bit over my shoulder. I spotted a Junco teed up and then scanned the hedge row and quickly found the same juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow from the day before. I snapped a picture of bird number 41 and continued to the lake for a cursory glance knowing I was done with the record chase.
On the way out just about 1/4 mile from the above sparrow/junco spot another bird flushed and flew over the hood of the car and I knew it to be a bit more chunky and red than would be expected from something like American Tree Sparrow. Sure enough I spotted a Fox Sparrow perched in the thicket and again snapped a quick documentation shot for fun as I realized instead of the expected sure thing ducks to close out the record I had pulled 3 sparrow species and a Grebe from Lake Elmo Park instead.
So I finished with 42 species for the new record and would surmise it's low enough for someone (or myself) to attempt to break in the future. Having been out in the 15mph wind on a 35 degree day for about 8 hours that was plenty for me.
You never know when the desire to big day will come and sometimes it's fine to decide on it after you hit your first location in the morning. If the drive species plus your morning effort yield a good enough number it may just be worth it to think out the spots needed to break a record. It is a great mental puzzle and practical hunt as you work out the species remaining in your head that are reasonable to get and what locations would give you the best chance to do so.
That is the fun of birding with someone like Peter Nichols as we both were doing that in our heads without any direct resources. Even without a new record such exercises are a great way to keep your mind sharp on what species to expect at the time of year and what habitats you must visit to maximize your results.
Hoping that December will bring some open water remaining so I can reasonably attack that record also, which stands at 35 right now.
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