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Red Crossbill

Loxia cuvirostra

Description:

a member of the finch family, the only members with a cross bill. small kinda squaty ~ short tail, heftier than a Junco and absolutely BEAUTIFUL Red male and highly sexual dimorphic female YELLOW and all shades in between

Habitat:

Generally pine forests where they live on pine seeds till the seeds run out and they forage elsewhere ~ these are probably from Canada because they say 'eh' after their kikk kikk kikk (just kidding) anyway they're in my back yard and dinning rather well on the seed barrels i've arranged for them ~ 5 in a row with a dish of seeds in the cage (they all have a key) they're lots of fun to watch and do not fly off unless you get within a foot or two ! They're not finniky 'bout other feathered relatives save the Beautiful Blue Jays who tolerate the RCB's sorta.

Notes:

These 13 - 27 dazzling darlings are an erruption from some place North, however we do have a strong population of RCB's in and around Billings this time of year but we are saturated with these colorful birds this last full month. I'm getting this same flock 6:30 AM till about 4pm (intermittently all day) when the all hit the roost. They are incredibly beautiful. Got WWCB's yes indeed, pix to come!

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Darwin26
Spotted by
Darwin26

Montana, USA

Spotted on May 1, 2013
Submitted on May 2, 2013

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