Weekly Bird Identification Quiz
March 16-22, 2009
How to Identify:
With just a quick glance at the photo you can tell that this is a species of Crossbill. Since there are only White-winged and Red Crossbills you already have a 50/50 chance of getting it correct. The keys to deciding which Crossbill it is are the streaking/color of the chest and belly and the bill size. The overall yellowish chest and belly with the flecks of deep red is enough to ID this as a Red. Red Crossbills have much larger bills than White-winged. White-winged Crossbills have slight bills while Red Crossbills have very thick bills and as a result Red Crossbills eat seeds from bigger, stronger cones while White-winged Crossbills eat seeds from smaller, weaker cones.
Answer: Red Crossbill
Photo Location: Black Hills, South Dakota
Photo Date: June 2008