The Red Crossbill is a finch built around a single remarkable tool: a bill whose upper and lower tips cross past each other, an adaptation for prying apart the scales of conifer cones to reach the seeds inside. The male is a dull brick-red, the female olive-yellow, both with dark wings, and flocks clamber parrot-like through the treetops, hanging at odd angles as they work the cones. They give distinctive sharp "kip-kip" flight calls, and different "types" of Red Crossbill, each specialized on different conifers, can be told apart by these calls.
Crossbills live entirely by the cone crop, and this makes them nomadic and unpredictable: they wander widely in search of good cone years, appearing in Michigan's conifer forests in variable numbers, and they can breed at almost any time of year — even in the depths of winter — whenever cones are abundant enough to feed their young. In some years they are fairly common in the state's pines and spruces; in others they are hard to find. A flock of crossbills swinging through a cone-laden spruce is one of the special sights of the northern woods.
Feeds almost entirely on the seeds of conifer cones, using its crossed bill to spread the scales and its tongue to extract the seeds, and takes some buds and insects. Its dependence on the cone crop drives its nomadic wandering and its unusual ability to breed whenever food is abundant.
The crossed tips of the Red Crossbill's bill let it pry apart the scales of conifer cones to reach the seeds inside, a specialization few other birds share. It is a precise tool for extracting seeds that are otherwise hard to get.
Because its food is conifer seeds rather than insects, the Red Crossbill can nest whenever cones are abundant, including midwinter. Breeding is tied to the cone crop rather than to the season.
Crossbills are nomadic, wandering widely to find good cone years. As a result they appear in the state's conifer forests in variable numbers, common in some years and scarce in others depending on the cone crop.
Juveniles are heavily streaked gray-brown with a crossed bill already forming. Young males pass through a patchy orange stage before turning brick red, so a flock often shows streaked, orange, yellow, and red birds together.
Yes, and the flocks are nomadic rather than migratory — they wander in search of cone crops and may nest wherever they find one, even in midwinter. Flocks are usually detected by their flight calls overhead.
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