Two-Barred Crossbill
Loxia leucoptera
Also known as: White-Winged Crossbill
Habitat
Mid-canopy
Diet
PlantSeed
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
29 g
About This Species
This crossbill uses its crossed bill to prise seeds from spruce and larch cones, working the mid-canopy in small nomadic flocks that can appear and vanish from an area within days. Listen for its distinctive flight call overhead before you spot the birds themselves, often clinging sideways to cone clusters. Numbers surge unpredictably in irruption years, so winter visits to mature conifer stands after a good cone crop give the best odds.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Watch from a distance with binoculars rather than approaching feeding flocks, since crossbills are easily flushed from a productive tree and will simply move on.
- Wild birds are protected from disturbance and killing under national wildlife laws across most of its range, though the specific rules differ between countries, so check local regulations before visiting a known site.
- Avoid lingering directly beneath a feeding flock or using calls to draw them closer.
LCAvesPasseriformesFringillidae
Seasonal Activity
299,058 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
Traits
- Diet
- PlantSeed
- Foraging
- Mid-canopy
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 29 g
Photo
(c) Дмитрий Осипов, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Дмитрий Осипов
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.