Crossbill
| Crossbill | ||||||||||||
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Crossbill ( Loxia leucoptera ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Loxia leucoptera | ||||||||||||
| Gmelin , 1789 |
The crossbill ( Loxia leucoptera ) is a songbird from the finch family (Fringillidae).
description
The crossbill is between 14 and 16 centimeters long and slightly more delicate than the crossbill . The beak specializes in larch cones . The plumage of the female is yellow and that of the male raspberry-red or brick-red. The coat is spotted with black. The adult birds have sharply set off, wide white shoulder feathers and two white wing bands. The lower one is widest on the inside and the upper one sloping at an angle.
His call sounds like "tjäck-tjäck".
Habitat and nutrition
The crossbill lives mainly in North America , the Russian taiga and rarely in northern Scandinavia . It breeds in areas with a high proportion of larch. The crossbill eats larch - and other conifer seeds .
Subspecies
There are two subspecies: the North American crossbill and the European crossbill. The subspecies bifasciata breeds in Eurasia , while the nominate form is restricted to North America.
Reproduction
These birds build a loose, bowl-shaped nest. The female lays 3–5 white eggs with brown spots. The incubation period is 12-14 days. The young are fed with pre-digested seeds or insects. The young leave the nest after 11–17 days.
literature
- Svensson, Grant, Mullarney, Zetterström: Birds of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co., Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08401-9 .
- Goetz Rheinwald: Atlas of the bird world. UNIPART VERLAG GmbH, Remseck near Stuttgart 1994 (German translation from English) ISBN 3-8122-3399-1 , p. 38.
Web links
- Info page about the crossbill
- Loxia leucoptera onthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
- Feathers of the crossbill