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Known for their distinct crossed bill, these birds eat seed from mature conifer cones. Their unique bill structure helps them to rip the cones apart.

Crossbill

Known for their distinct crossed bill, these birds eat seed from mature conifer cones. Their unique…

Known for their distinct crossed bill, these birds eat seed from mature conifer cones. Their unique bill structure helps them to rip the cones apart.

Crossbill

Known for their distinct crossed bill, these birds eat seed from mature conifer cones. Their unique…

A crossbill.

Crossbill

A crossbill.

"Loxai curvirostra. American Red Crossbill. Red; wings and tail blackish, without white markings. Middle of back darker, more brownish-red than elsewhere, the feathers with dusky centres. In the highest feather, even, the red is scarcely continuous except on head and rump, where brightest; lower belly and crissum usually gray or pale. Though the shade of red is never rosy or carmine as in the last, it varies interminably. It is usually tilered or cinnabar, heightening in some cases to vermilion, in others shading to brownish-red, and often mixed not only with gray, but with olivaceous or saffron-yellowish tints. Orange, chrome or gamboge are sometimes seen." Elliot Coues, 1884

American Red Crossbill

"Loxai curvirostra. American Red Crossbill. Red; wings and tail blackish, without white markings. Middle…

"Loxia leucoptera. White-winged Crossbill. Rosy-red, sometimes carmined or even crimsoned, obscured on middle of back, paling on lower belly and crissum, latter whitish with dusky centres of the feathers. Scapulars black, this color sometimes meeting across lower back. Wing- and tail-feathers black, with white, forming two cross-bars, sometimes confluent in one large patch. Rather larger than the next, the bill thinner and more attenuate." Elliot Coues, 1884

White-winged Crossbill

"Loxia leucoptera. White-winged Crossbill. Rosy-red, sometimes carmined or even crimsoned, obscured…