The parrot crossbill (''Loxia pytyopsittacus'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the

finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...

family

Fringillidae The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...

. It breeds in pine forests in northern and northeastern Europe.

Taxonomy

The parrot crossbill was formerly described in 1793 by the German naturalist

Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen (3 December 1760, Giessen – 30 November 1806, Darmstadt) was a German naturalist and forester. He took part in the production of ' by Johann Conrad Susemihl. He received his education in Giessen, and in 1796 started ...

under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Loxia pytyopsittacus''. The type locality was designated as Sweden by

Ernst Hartert Ernst Johann Otto Hartert (29 October 1859 – 11 November 1933) was a widely published German ornithologist. Life and career Hartert was born in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg on 29 October 1859. In July 1891, he married the illustrat ...

. The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

: no

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised. The genus name ''Loxia'' is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''loxos'' meaning "crosswise"; the specific epithet ''pytyopsittacus'' combines ''pitus, pituos'' meaning "pine" with ''psittakos'' meaning "parrot''.'' The crossbills are characterised by the mandibles crossing at their tips, which gives the group its English name. Some

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

-feeding populations currently assigned to red crossbill in southern Europe may possibly be better referred to either this species or alternatively to new species in their own right, but as yet, research into them is still at a very early stage.

Description

Adult males tend to be red or orange in colour, and females green or yellow, but there is much variation. This species is difficult to separate from

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

and Scottish crossbills, and

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

distinctions are negligible. It is slightly larger than other crossbills, measuring long and spanning across the wings. It is quite bulky and heavy weighing from , with an average of .''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), . The head and bill are larger than in either of the other species. The bill is thicker than those of its relatives, and the crossed tips are often not readily apparent. Extreme care is needed to identify this species. The deeper, harder ''choop'' or ''tyuup'' call is probably the best indicator.

Distribution and habitat

This bird breeds in the

forests of northwest

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and into western

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. There is also a small population in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, adding to the difficulty of distinguishing it from the sympatric

red crossbill The red crossbill or common crossbill (''Loxia curvirostra'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. Crossbills have distinctive mandibles, crossed at the tips, which enable them to extract seeds from conifer cones and other ...

and the endemic Scottish crossbill. This

crossbill Crossbills are birds of the genus ''Loxia'' within the finch family (Fringillidae), with six species. These birds are characterized by the mandibles with crossed tips, which gives the group its English name. Adult males tend to be red or orange ...

is mainly resident, but will

migrate Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

south and west if its food source fails.

Behaviour

Parrot crossbills will form flocks outside the breeding season, often mixed with other crossbills.

Food and feeding

They are specialist feeders on

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

cones, and the unusual bill shape is an adaptation to assist the extraction of the seeds from the cone. The parrot crossbill is a specialist feeder on the cones of

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red pine is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-gr ...

. Loxia pytyopsittacus MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.220 Laponie HdeB.jpg, Egg of ''Loxia pytyopsittacus'' MHNT Loxia pityopsittacus NAUMANN.jpg

References

External links

Loxia Fantastica
Blog dealing with crossbills in

{{Taxonbar, from=Q645055 Loxia Birds of Europe Birds of Scandinavia Birds described in 1793