Red Crossbill

Loxia curvirostraOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Finches (Fringillidae)

Codes: Common Name: RECR Scientific Name: LOXCUR ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179259

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

Red Crossbill: Medium finch with red-orange body, brighter red rump, and dark brown wings. Bill is dark and crossed at tip. The tail is notched. Legs and feet are gray-black. Eats seeds, insects and caterpillars. Swift bounding flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled briefly to sides.

Range and Habitat

Red Crossbill: Breeds from southern Alaska, Manitoba, Quebec, and Newfoundland, south in the west to northern Nicaragua, and in eastern U.S. to Wisconsin and North Carolina (in mountains). Spends winters irregularly south to the Gulf Coast; also in Eurasia. Preferred habitats include coniferous forests; visits ornamental evergreens in winter.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chipa-chipa-chipa, chee-chee-chee-chee", "kip-kip-kip"

Interesting Facts

The Red Crossbill is so dependent upon conifer seeds it even feeds them to its young. It can breed any time it finds a sufficiently large cone crop, even in the depths of winter.

They show a great deal of variation in bill shape and voice, and may in fact be composed of several different species.

Eight different flight call types have been described, and birds giving each type have slightly differently shaped bills.

A group of crossbills are collectively known as a "crookedness" and a "warp" of crossbills.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

Kavita Jhunjhunwala

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Red Crossbill

● Song: "chipa-chipa-chipa, chee-chee-chee-chee", "kip-kip-kip"

● Foraging & Feeding: Red Crossbill: Eats a variety of foods, including insects, buds, and seeds. Larger-billed individuals prefer pinecones; smaller-billed birds favor spruce cones.

● Breeding & nesting: Red Crossbill: Three or four light green or blue eggs spotted with brown and lavender are laid in a shallow saucer of bark strips, grass, and roots, lined with moss and plant down, and built near the end of a conifer branch. Eggs are incubated for 12 to 18 days by the female.

● Similar species: Red Crossbill: White-winged Crossbill has thick, white wing-bars.

Flight Pattern

Swift bounding flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Red Crossbill: Breeds from southern Alaska, Manitoba, Quebec, and Newfoundland, south in the west to northern Nicaragua, and in eastern U.S. to Wisconsin and North Carolina (in mountains). Spends winters irregularly south to the Gulf Coast; also in Eurasia. Preferred habitats include coniferous forests; visits ornamental evergreens in winter.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight1.4 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Red Crossbill

Related Birds

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

Range and Habitat

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

Interesting Facts

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Artist

Red Crossbill

Flight Pattern