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Red Crossbill

Red Crossbill

Loxia curvirostra

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The Red Crossbill is a stocky finch of conifer forests across North America and Eurasia, instantly recognised by its crossed bill tips, which it uses to prise open cone scales and extract seeds. Males are usually red to orange and females greenish-yellow. Nomadic and often irruptive, it follows cone crops and may breed whenever food is plentiful, even in winter. Its call and bill size vary between populations, forming several recognisable “call types”.

Did you know?

  • A medieval chronicler described a huge irruption in 1254 of birds with crossed beaks that ate apple pips.
  • Several former subspecies are now treated as full species, such as the Parrot and Cassia Crossbills.

Voice

Song
Call
Flight call

About the species

Identification

A stocky finch with a thick bill whose tips cross. Males are brick-red, females and young yellowish or greenish, with dark grey wings and tail; young birds are streaked. It usually lacks wing bars. The call is a sharp “kip kip kip”, slightly higher than Parrot Crossbill's; the call is often the best way to separate the species, as bill size overlaps.

Family

Fringillidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

red, green, brown, grey

About the habitat

Coniferous forests and plantations, especially spruce and pine, and mixed woodland with abundant cones; its local occurrence varies with cone crops.

Diet

Mainly conifer seeds, especially of spruce and pine; also other seeds, buds and occasionally insects. Nestlings are fed regurgitated seeds. It often takes grit and visits mineral-rich sites.

Behaviour

Usually in noisy flocks that wander widely according to cone crops. It feeds acrobatically on cone-laden branches, levering seeds out with its bill. Irruptions can bring large numbers far from breeding areas. Breeding can take place in almost any month if cones are abundant. Its sharp, repeated flight calls keep flocks together.

Sources

Photo: Elaine R. Wilson, www.naturespicsonline.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red Crossbills (Male).jpg

Sound: Max Karlsson, XC664815, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/664815

Sound: Jonathon Jongsma, XC254481, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/254481

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC955857, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/955857

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

See also