Scottish (?) Crossbills, 28th February & 1st March 2019

By the Thursday morning I was feeling much better, if a little bit groggy still. We'd been in Scotland for 5 days and not yet made it into the forest because of my sickness so it had to be done today. We chose our usual and favourite route into the forest mainly because we've had much success with finding the elusive Capercaillie on this walk, although we'd not seen one for a few years now. For the first mile we saw very little apart from the common woodland residents such as Chaffinches, Robins and Coal Tits. A furtive Treecreeper was a treat and we could hear, but not see, Crested Tits high in the trees. I was feeling a bit rough again so we stopped for a while at a place where four tracks meet. As we rested a flock of Crossbills passed noisily overhead, the calls were the deeper "kup, kup" of the larger billed Parrot variety rather than the shrill "jlip, jlip" of the Common type. A few minutes later another two Crossbills (or part of the same flock) flew into a pine tree right above where we sitting. I was on my feet in an instant, despite my heavy legs, and found myself looking at a male Crossbill with a bill far too large to be a Common Crossbill so it just had to be a Parrot Crossbill. 

Parrot Crossbill

There are some who subscribe to there being an endemic third species, the Scottish Crossbill, in these parts but I prefer to favour just the two. I find it's easier that way since the only criteria considered to differentiate between the Scottish variety and the other two is to record the calls and study the sonograms and even then it can be tricky. This bird perched in the top of the pine tree was undoubtedly in my mind a male Parrot Crossbill. In addition to the large bill, the bull headed profile also signals the larger species.

The male bird remained in the top of the pine for a good ten minutes before flying off accompanied by its mate. We hadn't seen the female at all when within the tree and assume that it must have been quietly feeding while the male stood guard. The encounter had reinstalled some enthusiasm in me again so we pushed on deeper into the forest and towards the area where we'd found a male Capercaillie in heavy moult, taking shelter from the rain back in June 2012. I remember it like it was yesterday. Finding that bird was singularly the most thrilling moment in my birding life.

Capercaillie, Abernethy, 08/06/2012

On this walk, as on many before, we didn't see any Capercaillie, they are getting much harder to find nowadays, but did find some signs of their presence in the woods. 

"Crap"ercaillie!

We walked all the way out to edge of the moor before returning back the same way. On the way back we added Crested Tit, still high up in the trees, to our year list which, with the Parrot Crossbill also new, had nudged up to 145. By the time we'd arrived back at the car I was done in again. Eight mile walks are not the best idea after a debilitating stomach bug!

Friday was the last day of our weeks holiday and I actually awoke feeling more like my normal self at last. With little time left we followed up on a recommendation to try the woodland around Boat of Garten where you can supposedly still find Capercaillie. I was sceptical that they'd be so close to the village but seeing as we'd never been in that woods before it would be churlish not to at least have a look. I was glad that we did, although we didn't find any Horses of the Woods. We had only walked a short distance from the car when I noticed a small group of Crossbills in some silver birch trees by the track. Just as the Parrot Crossbill was readily identifiable the day before then these birds were clearly Common Crossbills owing to their slighter build and much daintier bills. There was a mix of both male and female birds, one of which dutifully dropped down onto the track just ahead of us and proceeded, I assumed, to take grit from the path.

Common Crossbill

We walked extensively through the trees but didn't see much else of note except for a bemused looking Jay that perched in a dead tree.

Jay

Back at the cottage we watched a Brambling that had returned to feeding under the bird table while we decided what to do with our last few hours. It was a no brainer really, first lunch at the excellent Carrbridge Kitchen where with my refound appetite I devoured one of their terrific home-made steak pies, then on to the Findhorn Valley (Strathdearn) to hopefully see some raptors high above the hills.

Brambling

We had the entire valley to ourselves and opted as we most often do, to walk up to the bridge over the stream, where we've had most sightings of Golden Eagles over the years. Almost as soon as we started off a female Peregrine flew into view closely followed by another, the smaller male. They then displayed together for a while and even imitated a food pass.

Peregrine Falcons

On our way to the bridge we saw a couple of Buzzards and a pair of Ravens. The Peregrines reappeared as well. And then to top the week off and to finish on a high, a Golden Eagle appeared briefly to the North, afforded us a quick view before stooping rapidly and out of sight as only an Eagle can. The Goldie had pushed the year list on to 146 and we'd only dipped our toes into March!

Golden Eagle