Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)
Snowy Spring Day, Rocky Mountain Front Range, Colorado.
I don't routinely see crossbills here. But I believe the small flock of such pairs is in search of food after several dry months in the mountains. In other words, they irrupted, or arrived suddenly in our area.
Their bills are eye-catching as the tips are crisscrossed. They are specialized to extract seeds from pine cone scales. The crossbills, a type of finch, are feeding from the cones we have on our mature pine trees here. I've seen them eating buds on our flowering trees as well.
I love their "kip-kip chee-chee" bird songs, too. They add to the pleasant Springtime Symphony of a variety of birds here now.
I wonder if they are perhaps nesting (10-40') above in these trees as well. Time will tell!
Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)
Snowy Spring Day, Rocky Mountain Front Range, Colorado.
I don't routinely see crossbills here. But I believe the small flock of such pairs is in search of food after several dry months in the mountains. In other words, they irrupted, or arrived suddenly in our area.
Their bills are eye-catching as the tips are crisscrossed. They are specialized to extract seeds from pine cone scales. The crossbills, a type of finch, are feeding from the cones we have on our mature pine trees here. I've seen them eating buds on our flowering trees as well.
I love their "kip-kip chee-chee" bird songs, too. They add to the pleasant Springtime Symphony of a variety of birds here now.
I wonder if they are perhaps nesting (10-40') above in these trees as well. Time will tell!