Bird Sighting

Species photo: Elaine R. Wilson, www.naturespicsonline.com, CC BY-SA 3.0

Common Crossbill

Loxia curvirostra · Fringillidae (Finches)

02/03/2021 · Maw Green Tip, South area

Date
02/03/2021
Location
Maw Green Tip
Recording area
South area
Grid reference
SJ 7175 5764
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 adapted from the Wikipedia article “Red crossbill” by its contributors (introduction, may be shortened), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, with the photographer and licence under each one.