Bird Sighting

Common Crossbill

Loxia curvirostra · Fringillidae (Finches)

27/03/2026 · Elton Hall Flash, Central area

Common Crossbill
Not a photo of this sighting: the species photo from Wikipedia. Photographer and licence
Date
27/03/2026
Location
Elton Hall Flash
Recording area
Central area
Grid reference
SJ 7246 5957
Observer
admin

Common Crossbill in our records

Records
4
First recorded
02/03/2021
Last recorded
27/03/2026
Places
Elton Hall Flash, Maw Green Tip

Other recent records

All Common Crossbill records and map

About the Common Crossbill

The red crossbill or common crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. Crossbills have distinctive mandibles, crossed at the tips, which enable them to extract seeds from conifer cones and other fruits.

Adults are often brightly coloured, with red or orange males and green or yellow females, but there is wide variation in beak size and shape, and call types, leading to different classifications of variants, some of which have been named as subspecies. The species is known as "red crossbill" in North America and "common crossbill" in Europe.

Conservation status (IUCN)
Least Concern
Wingspan
29 cm
Weight
3.0 g

Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Photos from Wikimedia Commons; click a credit for the photographer and licence. Read more on Wikipedia