Loxia curvirostra

Very rare in Central Park. a small flock of Red Crossbills spent two days in Shakespeare Garden, feeding on seeds from young cones of Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis).

They were identified from their flight-call recordings as Type 3 subspecies by Matt Young and Andrew Farnsworth from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This subspecies specializes in smaller and softer cones from Spruce and Hemlock trees.