White-winged Crossbills in Ozaukee County 10/30/20

I stopped by Forest Beach Migratory Preserve on 10/27 and was able to see the crossbills in the afternoon. I only saw them for a short time and got just a few doc shots. They were a life bird for me that day, so I was still excited. I think I had 30 or so. I was off on Friday 10/30 and thought I would try for them again, and hopefully get some decent photos. I walked the path back and found them almost right away. I setup and started taking pictures. They flew almost immediately. This time though, there were at least 45 of them. I watched them land and headed over to the next group of trees. Again I setup and started taking pictures, and again they flew almost right away. Now, I always wear camo and don’t have anything really flashy with me, trying to always blend in. I was thinking these birds sure are skittish! I watched them fly away and land in a few trees over, so I packed up and went over there. I setup and and took one photo and off they flew again! I couldn’t believe it, not sure why they were so jumpy. This time they looped around me and went to the southwest, so I had to walk all the way around them to get the sun back on my backside. This time I decided to turn my camera shutter on silent (6fps), instead of the normal (10fps), and see if my shutter noise was spooking them, although I can’t imagine it was. It worked though! Either coincidence or my shutter was really too loud for them. From then on, I followed them around tree to tree and back to previous trees, eating seeds and throwing pine cones around, without spooking them. They would eat in a tree anywhere from five to fifteen minutes. Then move on to the next. They flew all over the preserve and even went all the way south, to the line of trees along County Hwy P. From there, they went to the marsh area, just south of the parking lot and all went down for water. They sure move around quite a bit! I spent several hours there and took over 1500 photos, trying to get some nice behavior shots. All photos are from Friday 10/30. Enjoy!