They’re back. Crossbills were mostly absent from Maine last winter. I didn’t encounter a single one, even when I went looking for them in their favorite places. In early June, I started noticing a few. By July, I was hearing them all over the spruce forests west of Baxter State Park.

Crossbills are finches with a uniquely adapted bill. The tips cross, allowing the birds to extract seeds from conifer cones.