Red Crossbill
Red Crossbill
(Loxia curvirostra)
Photo temporarily not available
Size : 5.25 - 6.50 inches long (13 - 16 cm)
Description : Male - Upper and lower parts of their beak overlap and cross at an angle at the tip;
sparrow-sized, dusky brick red
Female - Gray tinged with dull yellowish-green, perfect coloring for
hiding in evergreens; crossed bill, same as male
Preferred Habitat: Coniferous forests; visits ornamental evergreens in the winter
Preferred food : Seeds, especially of conifers, buds, wild fruits.
They will come to the feeder for sunflower seeds
Breeding Range : Newfoundland to southeastern Pennsylvania, west to Alaska,
south through the mountains to Central America
Winter Range : Permanent resident in breeding area, but also wanders south to the Gulf coast
Interesting Facts:- A finch
- Sporadic visitors; may be abundant in some years, then not be seen again for many more
- Winter flocks often travel long distances: visitors to New England may have come from
the Rockies
- Has a craving for salt
- Has been known to eat the mortar from between bricks of brick buildings
- Uses its feet, parrot-style, to climb trees and hold pinecones
- Uses bill to insert under pinecone scales and its tongue to extract the seeds
- If cones abundant in breeding range, may not migrate at all
- Nest is saucer-shaped, built of twigs and fine roots, lined with moss, feathers, hair, or fur;
usually in a conifer, close to the ground, and near the tip of a branch
- Male serenades its mate in flight
- Good singer; song is difficult to translate, but may sound like,
'chipa-chipa-chipa, chee-chee-chee'
- Eggs are white, with brown and lavender spots on the wide end
- Female incubates eggs
- Clutch size: 3 - 5; incubation period: 12 - 14 days; nestling period: 15 - 17 days;
broods per season: 1