Red Crossbill

Red Crossbill

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.

● 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