From Opus

Male. Photo by forcreeks.
Cabin Lake, Oregon, USA.

Loxia curvirostra

Alternate name: Common Crossbill

[edit] Identification

• Medium-sized finch
• Red-orange body
• Brighter red on rump
• Dark brown wings
• Dark bill with crossed tip
• Notched tail

[edit] Female

Female. Photo by Mahsleb.
Upper Hollesley Common, UK, May 2012

• Yellow-orange crown and rump
• Olive-green body
• Grey-brown wings and tail

[edit] Juvenile

Streaked brown overall

Juveniles. Photo by Mahsleb.
Upper Hollesley Common, UK, May 2012

[edit] Distribution

Southern Alaska, Manitoba, Quebec, and Newfoundland, south in the west to northern Nicaragua, and in eastern United States to Wisconsin and North Carolina (in mountains). This bird winters irregularly south to the Gulf coast.

Also found in Eurasia.

[edit] Taxonomy

Twenty-one subspecies are recognized^[1]:

• L. c. curvirostra
• L. c. corsicana
• L. c. balearica
• L. c. poliogyna
• L. c. guillemardi
• L. c. mariae
• L. c. altaiensis
• L. c. tianschanica
• L. c. himalayensis
• L. c. meridionalis
• L. c. japonica
• L. c. luzoniensis
• L. c. bendirei
• L. c. sitkensis
• L. c. benti
• L. c. minor
• L. c. grinnelli
• L. c. stricklandi
• L. c. mesamericana
• L. c. pusilla
• L. c. sinesciuris

[edit] Habitat

Coniferous forests

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

They eat insects and the buds and seeds of many shrubs and trees but mainly conifers with not too large cones.

[edit] Vocalisation

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist

[edit] External Links