A male White-winged Crossbill perched at the very top of a pine tree, in profile view looking to the right. His head and breast are pink, while his back and wings are black to dark gray, with white wing bars. You can see how his upper and lower mandibles are crossed, enabling him to pry seeds out of cones.
A female White-winged Crossbill perched in a pine tree, in profile view looking to the right. She is a soft grayish yellow with fine darker streaking. You can see how her upper and lower mandibles are crossed, enabling her to pry seeds out of cones.
White-winged Crossbills are one of my favourite "winter finches." They occasionally come south for the winter when the cone crop is poor in their boreal forest homeland. I was thrilled to see these ones last week. #birds #birding #crossbills #finches #winterfinches
