6 Nov 26
For a few years now the Crossbill has been on my target list, ever since I first went hunting for them on the Isle of Whight, southern England (that unsuccessful pursuit was the topic of one of my first blog posts here). I haven’t had a chance to go looking for these rather specialist finches until now. Crossbills have a unique bill where the tips cross over. This feature is their secret weapon as it allows them to easily extract seeds from conifer cones, which is their main food source.
The unique bill gives this family of finches their name
On my recent visit to Arctic Norway, I had the opportunity. The relatively open and easily navigable woodland of the mountains was my target area. A visit to Malangen, Troms, promised to be a potential good location for these birds. A short hike up from the fjord and the area was covered predominately by mountain birch and relatively small pine trees scattered across a ground carpeted with heather. This seemed to be a good habitat for the Parrot Crossbill – in Norway called Furukorsnebb (Pine Crossbill) - as the pine cones are its preferred food.
A brightly coloured male Parrot Crossbill
This version of the Crossbill is found mostly in Norway, Sweden, Finland and north-westerly Russia. It can also be found in UK, France and Belgium in very small numbers if the pinecone crop has failed further north-east. The Norwegian population is between 3,000-20,000 and varies significantly year-on-year depending on the availability of food sources.
A female Parrot Crossbill
The Parrot Crossbill can be distinguished from the other Crossbill species by its chunkier bill, although this difference can be difficult to determine at times. The other three species in Europe are the Common (or Red) Crossbill, Two-barred Crossbill and Scottish Crossbill. They all belong to the Finches family of birds.
Pine cones are the favourite food of the Parrot Crossbill
The first two days hiking up into this beautiful, wooded terrain with a scattering of ponds and small lakes were unsuccessful. I heard a few Crossbills but only managed to photograph Meadow Pipits and Redpolls. The third day, on the other hand brought success. A few Parrot Crossbills flew around the pine trees, and with patience a few came within good range of my 560mm focal length. One bird, in particular, entertained me for a while. It ripped off a young pinecone and acrobatically spun it around and spent several minutes chomping on it. A great moment. The repeated hikes into this forest area eventually paid off.
The landscape in this part of the world is stunning and the remoteness and quietness made it a pleasure to spend time in this area. All in all, a wonderful few days in northern Norway. Tusen takk Troms!
Settled down with a tasty pine cone