Bird of the Week – White-winged Crossbill
White-winged Crossbills are evergreen cone specialists.
White-winged Crossbill Female, Nabesna Road
You can see that the bill does indeed cross at the tips, allowing the bird to lever open spruce and tamarack cone bracts to get to the seeds.
The male is a lot flashier.
White-winged Crossbill Male, Nabesna Road
White-winged Crossbills aren’t always easy to find. They follow the cone crop. When spruce and tamarack cone production is low, the birds will move elsewhere. This is a boreal species; further south, even in Southeast Alaska, the Red Crossbill is more common.
Camera geek stuff: f5.6, 1/8000, ISO2500
For more bird photos, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
I spent a weekend watching one male and three female white winged crossbills play around Byers Lake public use cabin #1. Friendly creatures. They flew over and sat on the rail when we were sitting on the porch reading.
Beautiful photos as always. Good luck, Alaskans, with the storm that’s coming in. We in the lower 48 get lots of information by way of The Weather Channel. Some bits of your storm will join the polar whatever-it-is that we’re going to have this coming week. Some talk of measurable snow for us. I hope not. I am not looking forward to six months of wearing boots and my giant winter coat. Stay warm and safe, especially the birds and little animals.
Amazing photography; beautiful birds. Thanks.