Monday, March 23, 2009

White-winged Crossbills

Alright, after yesterday's post about Red Crossbills - including the lament that the locally more numerous White-winged Crossbills hadn't been found willing to pose for a picture yet - today some of those white-wingers. The bird pictured above of course is an adult male.

Here's the same bird from a different angle, showing those diagnostic white wing-bars and tertial tips.

Those field marks aren't really visible in this picture (of the same bird). The long, slender bill would still be a clue for White-winged: Red Crossbill bills vary greatly in size, but generally aren't so elongated. Proportionally, the head on a white-winger is smaller too, although I would hate to have to ID this bird on the basis of this picture alone. The upper wingbar is barely visible.

This is an adult female.

1 comment:

Bordalejo said...

We always have the same issue... The males are much more beautiful and interesting than the females.
Is this true about humans too, I wonder...