Not cross - but crossed

White-winged Crossbill at Prince Albert feeder. Linda Clavelle photo

My sister Linda discovered this little guy at her feeder the other morning just north of Prince Albert. Her first reaction was that she was looking at a Pine Grosbeak, but then she noticed the short, stubby tail. What confused her, she said, was that she couldn't see that the bill was actually crossed. Spotting the feature that give the bird its name is never as easy as the field guides make it seem. Even in this great photo that Linda took through her dining room window, the crossed bill is not readily apparent even though the photo is enlarged almost to the point of pixilating.

There are two crossbills which occasionally show up at our feeders in winter: the
Red Crossbill which has no white on its wings and the White-winged Crossbill which is more pink than red in color and has white showing on its wings. The Red has a much larger bill and eats seeds from pines while the White-winged's smaller, finer bill is perfect for extracting seeds from tamaracks and spruce cones.

Both incidentally are members of the finch family and they are the only birds in the world with truly crossed bills, according to The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. The Purple Finch and House Finch are other related "red" birds in this area and appear to be much smaller than the White-winged. The difference in over-all length is not much. A House Finch averages about 5.75 inches; Purple Finch, 6 inches; and White-Winged 6.5 inches. The stocky body and stubby tail, however, give the impression that the White-winged much bigger than the other two.