White-winged crossbills have highly specialized beaks that enable them to pry open the cones of conifers and access the seeds within. Considering there's not a single tree on St. Paul Island, let alone a conifer, this particular bird is probably not doing so well. In fact I nearly ran it over in a dramatic break slide on the ATV trail coming down for High Bluffs the other day. It likely got blown off course from the mainland in strong easterly winds and became disoriented in thick fog over the Bering Sea. It is also possible that these birds are being displaced by the 300+ wildfires now raging across nearly five million acres of Alaskan forest.
Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM + 1.4x, Two images: ISO-800 f/13 @ 1/400 sec & f/10 @ 1/1000 sec.
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