A close scrape

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As we scanned through the flock of Crossbills they fed avidly; initially on the seeds from Larch cones. As they erupted into a chirping mobile flock we followed them to deciduous trees. Here they landed on the trunk of the trees. Like parrots at a salt lick they scraped at the bark with their bills. At first I thought they were after insects, but as I got closer I could see they were scraping the lichens from the bark. Something I have never seen them do before.

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