FOAM LAKE BIRDING
No. 170
As February
is coming to an end winter is still with us despite improving weather
conditions. Although I have seen Horned
Larks it is still a good month or so before more migrants arrive so, I will be
sticking with winter birds for the next little while. To that end I have spent quite a bit of time photographing
the Redpolls in our yard especially the Hoary.
One of the
group of birds that I have not covered as of yet are the crossbills. There are
four species in Europe but only two in North America,
the Red Crossbill and White Winged Crossbill,
both of which occur locally. Both species are sparrow-sized reddish birds
with black wings and unique sharply pointed bills whose tips cross over each
other when the bill is closed. The bills
are especially designed to pry the seeds out of the cones of conifers like pine
and spruce. The Red Crossbill is
slightly larger of the two with a heavier and more powerful bill. As a result the Red Crossbill tends to feed
on larger and tougher cones such as pine while the White Winged prefers spruce
but neither is overly picky and any cone will do.
The Red
Crossbill is much more widespread covering all of North America including parts
of Mexico. There are about nine different and distinct subspecies
that some taxonomists feel just might be nine different species
altogether. If that proves to be the
case then there will be ten different species of crossbills in North America. On
the other hand, the White Winged shows no variation in different regions and
therefore will in all probability remain as one species. Also its distribution is much more limited
being confined to Canada and
Alaska except in the winter when some
migration takes place to the North Central and Eastern US. Even though the crossbills are not really
migratory they are wanderers constantly on the move searching for food, except
during nesting season, making their appearance in any one place highly unpredictable. Locally, both species can only be expected
during the winter or spring.
The males
of both species are similar but with close examination can be easily
distinguished from one another. The Red Crossbill's body is a deep dull red
with pure black wings. Some subspecies,
however, do have faint white wing bars. The
White Winged is more of a pink or rosy colour with two very pronounced white
bars on its black wings. Males and
females are different. I have seen both
species in our yard but the Red is the more common.
One of my
earliest experiences with crossbills was in the Black Hills of South
Dakota. We were at the Mt. Rushmore
monument standing in the shade of some pine trees hiding from the midday sun
when we noticed that we were being repeatedly sprinkled with scales from pine
cones. We could also hear faint but constant
crackling sounds coming from the trees above.
The mystery was solved when we looked up and saw a small flock of Red
Crossbills overhead feeding on the seeds of pine cones.
This week I
am including two pictures. One is of two
male and one female Red Crossbills sitting on a cedar just outside our window
hiding from the spring storm in April of 2012.
(The storm had forced a number of birds to land in our yard including a
flock of Red Crossbills.) The other
photo is of the Hoary Redpoll feeding on the ground on spilled black oil seeds
along with House Sparrows and Common Redpolls.
It is shown all fluffed out like a little fur ball trying to get some
warmth in the morning sun as it fed.
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