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Parrot Crossbill

Parrot Crossbill

Loxia pytyopsittacus

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The Parrot Crossbill is a chunky, bull-necked finch of the pine forests of northern Europe and western Russia. It is notoriously hard to separate from the Red Crossbill but has a heavier head and a deeper, more parrot-like bill, and a deeper call. It specialises in extracting seeds from pine cones and is mostly resident, wandering only when cone crops fail.

Did you know?

  • Its species name combines Greek words for “pine” and “parrot”.
  • Its deeper “choop” call is often the most reliable clue to its identity.

Voice

Flight call

About the species

Identification

The Parrot Crossbill has the largest bill of the crossbills, clearly deeper and more powerful than the Red Crossbill's, with crossed tips. Males are brick- or orange-red, females grey- or yellow-green; both have dark wings and tail without white wing bars. It is bulkier and more bull-necked than Red Crossbill, and its calls are lower.

Family

Fringillidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

red, brown, orange, grey

About the habitat

Pine-dominated forest, such as rocky pine ridges and open pine heaths; it generally avoids pure spruce stands.

Diet

Mainly pine seeds, also spruce seeds; some insects in the breeding season, and other seeds and rowan berries in poor cone years.

Behaviour

Often in small flocks or family groups that follow good cone crops, sometimes with other crossbills. Pairs are monogamous and nest high in pines; the male feeds the incubating female, and both parents feed the young a “porridge” of regurgitated seeds. It moves less widely than the Red Crossbill but can irrupt when cones are scarce.

Sources

Photo: Marton Berntsen, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Furukorsnebb..(Loxia pytyopsittacus) (cropped).jpg

Sound: Teet Sirotkin, XC1157227, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/1157227

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot_crossbill

See also