Bluebirds (& others) in February

Feb '24 Followed a report about bluebirds being seen and was able to locate some that were wintering nearby. These bluebirds were flying back and forth from a group of hardwood to sumac bushes nearby. Sometimes one would fly to the ground, like they would do in the summer when they are chasing insects. Near the location of the bluebirds a different pair of birds flew down onto the road. They turned out to be a pair of Crossbills, gathering grit. These birds, usually seen in larger flocks, sometimes come this far south in the deep winter. There cross shaped bills developed to efficiently extract seeds from conifer tree cones, their main food source.