Two-barred Crossbills (Bec-croisé bifascié) Invade Southern Ontario

     Two-barred Crossbills (Loxia leucoptera), known as White-winged Crossbills here in North America, have experienced a dearth of conifer seeds in their normal range in the north this winter; consequently they have moved south in search of food. 

     Miriam and I went out on a crossbill quest a couple of days ago, relishing the winter landscape all around us.

      Given a choice, crossbills appear to favour spruce above all other conifers, and this stand of White Spruce (Picea glauca) presented a likely spot to begin our search.

     After no more than about ten to fifteen minutes of searching we found our quarry, chattering high in the tree tops, and feeding voraciously, constantly shifting and attacking one cone after another.

     The bills of crossbills are adapted to extract seeds from conifer cones with maximum efficiency, and a single bird may consume up to 3,000 seeds in a day.

     Two species of crossbill are found in North America, the Two-barred Crossbill you see here, and the Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) which has also been reported in smaller numbers. The European race of Two-barred Crossbill, classified by Gmelin in 1789, has several morphological differences from the form found in North America, and may be a candidate for elevation to full species status

 

       As you may see the male is a very pleasing shade of pinkish-red with prominent white wing bars. The female is equally pleasing in delicate shades of green, with dark streaking on the back, and small highlights of yellow on the forehead.

      This is by any measure an attractive bird, and is supremely entertaining to watch. Miriam and I spent about a half hour being amused by the antics of the flock of about thirty-five we had before us.

     Many birds seem argumentative and quarrelsome by nature, but we saw no such behaviour on the part of these crossbills. Their single preoccupation was to feed, and with ample cones for all, there seemed to be no conflict.

     I can tell you that it was a highly successful search and an exercise in sensory delight to experience these birds going about their business.

     Two-barred Crossbills are prone to nest in any month provided seeds are available, and may initiate breeding in the depths of winter. The birds breed most abundantly in the spruce-dominated Hudson Bay Lowlands, but it is not impossible that breeding could occur here. It happens rarely - but it does happen.

     We left when the birds decided to move deeper into the forest.

      There is a certain kind of high that comes only from birding and we had more than our share of it with this encounter. 

     Now it's on to find the Red Crossbills too! 
  

References

Beadle, David and J.D. Rising, Tanagers, Cardinals and Fiches of the United States and Canada, Princeton University Press (2008)

Cadman, M.D, D. A. Sutherland, G. G. Beck, D. Lepage, and A. R. Couturier (eds), Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario 2001-2005, Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, Toronto (2007)

Clement, Peter, Alan Harris and John Davis, Finches and Sparrows, Princeton University Press (1993)

Cramp, S and Perrins, C. M. (eds), The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol. VIII, Oxford University Press (1994)

Hosie, R. C., Native Trees of Canada, Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited (1979)

Kershaw, Linda, Trees of Ontario, Lone Pine Publishing (2001)

Sibley, David Allen, The Sibley Guide to Trees, Random House Inc., (2009)