Friends of Murphys Point Park

Pileated woodpeckers are a large, striking birds that stand out in a forest any time of year. Being about the size of a crow, black and white with a bright red crest, there’s not much a pileated woodpecker can be confused with. Males and females can be distinguished by whether or not they have a red “whisker” – the side of the male’s face behind the bill has a big red streak whereas the females do not. These birds also are important habitat creators and many species use their old nest holes as homes!

This striking bird is one of the most stunning birds around if you can get a good look at them! Bohemian waxwings are a soft greyish brown colour overall but have beautiful red, yellow and white wing patterns along with a bright yellow tip to their tail. Paired with a crest on their head and clean black stripes on their faces these birds are truly beautiful. You may find them in large flocks of up to the thousands where they feed on fruit. Mountain Ash, buckthorn, apples, and other fruit all draw this special winter visitor east from their breeding areas in the northern prairies to Alaska.

As we move closer to winter, many of our birds in the park have left but there are a few hardy species that call Murphys Point home for the winter. For this bird of the month, we will be talking about Red Crossbills, a strange finch with an exciting story this year. Generally, crossbills would be a rare find in this area, but since early August they have been a daily sight. This is because the conifers they feed on produce seeds unpredictably and this year have produced what is called a mast crop – an exceptional crop of cones due to the weather pattern. The invasion of Red Crossbills this year is unprecedented, and they are here feeding mostly on this mast crop of Eastern White Pine cones. If you see this super cool bird, look for their crossed bill they use to pry cone scales apart to get to the seeds! Crossbills are our only birds that will nest and raise young any month of the year, as long as there are lots of cones!!!