Red Crossbills

Red Crossbill. Flock of the birds drinks water. Loxia curvirostra.




Photo © Jason Crotty / Flickr

Finding Red Crossbills and White-Winged Crossbills is one challenge — the second is getting close enough to actually to see their twisted bills, which they use to prize seeds out of pine cones. Males of both species are a brilliant scarlet, while the females are olive green. You can tell them apart by the white dappling on the wings (called wing bars), on the White-Winged Crossbill.

Both species are found year-round throughout the Rockies, and throughout the mid to northern U.S. in the winter. Listen closely if you happen upon a flock of Red Crossbills — the species has 10 distinct call-types, and different sub-populations specialize on different types of conifers.

https://blog.nature.org/science/2016/01/18/snow-birds-10-birds-to-look-for-in-winter/