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FOR THE BIRDS: Bumper crop doesn’t lead to crossbill sightings

In the fall, I had high hopes for a winter with tons of northern finches. Red spruce, balsam fir, tamarack and eastern hemlock trees were producing bumper crops of cones. These so-called mast years occur sporadically, and different tree species do not necessarily have mast years in the same years. The winter was shaping up as a marvelous smorgasbord for the finches that depend on conifer cones for their main food.