Parrot Crossbill

How to recognise it

• Thicker neck and proportionally larger head and bill than Common Crossbill
• Crossed, deep, heavy bill, though the crossed tips are often hard to see
• Male mainly brick red, female grey-green above with a yellow-green rump
• Dark to blackish wings and tail with pale grey edges in all plumages

Call and song

The Parrot Crossbill is talkative and calls often. The call, typp-typp-typp, resembles that of Common Crossbill but is harder and deeper and lacks its often inserted "l". The song is made up of trilling sounds and low twittering mixed with the call.

Where and when

The Parrot Crossbill is resident in Sweden, and the population is thought to be stable and viable. It is reported most in October. Its share of all bird reports is highest in Västerbotten, Gävleborg and Gotland. It is not on the Swedish Red List 2025.

Food and behaviour

The Parrot Crossbill specialises in seeds from pine cones. It also eats other conifer seeds, buds and shoots, and small amounts of insects and larvae. It has been seen biting off twigs with pine cones and carrying them to a branch. Outside the breeding season it forms flocks, often with other crossbills. Some winters, known as invasion years, part of the population moves further and can reach Central Europe.