Red Crossbill

How to recognise it

• Crossed bill tips and a thick, curved bill
• Compact, with a heavy round head and a short, deeply forked tail
• Male from two years old orange to brick-red, female grey-green to yellow-green, juvenile streaky grey-brown
• In flight it shows dark wings with no wing bars

Call and song

The contact call is a hard "gip gip gip" or "klip-klip-klip", often heard in flight. The varied song mixes elements like the flight call with nasal sounds and hard buzzing notes, and has some likeness to the song of the Greenfinch.

Where and when

The Red Crossbill is reported most in January, February, October and November. Its share of all bird reports is highest in Västerbotten, Jämtland and Dalarna. It belongs in conifer forest but can also turn up in mixed woodland, parks and large gardens with a few conifers. It is the provincial bird of Medelpad.

Food and behaviour

Most feed mainly on spruce seeds, but some populations specialise in pine cones or larch. It also eats seeds from fruits such as rowan berries, and insects like caterpillars. When feeding it is completely silent and climbs about the branches using its bill. Outside the breeding season it forms flocks, often with other crossbill species, and it does not migrate but makes wandering movements.