| Parrot crossbill | |
|---|---|
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| Male parrot crossbill | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
| Genus: | Loxia |
| Species: | L. pytyopsittacus |
| Binomial name | |
| Loxia pytyopsittacus Borkhausen, 1793 | |
The parrot crossbill (Loxia pytyopsittacus) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It breeds in pine forests in northern and northeastern Europe.
The parrot crossbill was formerly described in 1793 by the German naturalist Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen under the binomial name Loxia pytyopsittacus. [2] The type locality was designated as Sweden by Ernst Hartert.
[3] [4] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [5] The genus name Loxia is from Ancient Greek loxos meaning "crosswise"; the specific epithet pytyopsittacus combines pitus, pituos meaning "pine" with psittakos meaning "parrot. [6] The crossbills are characterised by the mandibles crossing at their tips, which gives the group its English name.
Some pine-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.
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 and Scottish crossbills, and plumage distinctions are negligible. It is slightly larger than other crossbills, measuring 16 to 18 cm (6.3 to 7.1 in) long and spanning 27 to 31 cm (11 to 12 in) across the wings. [7] It is quite bulky and heavy weighing from 44 to 58.2 g (1.55 to 2.05 oz), with an average of 53 g (1.9 oz). [8] 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.
This bird breeds in the pine forests of northwest Europe and into western Russia. There is also a small population in Scotland, adding to the difficulty of distinguishing it from the sympatric red crossbill and the endemic Scottish crossbill. This crossbill is mainly resident, but will migrate south and west if its food source fails.
Parrot crossbills will form flocks outside the breeding season, often mixed with other crossbills.
They are specialist feeders on conifer 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.
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usually resident and do not migrate. They have a worldwide distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. The family Fringillidae contains more than two hundred species divided into fifty genera. It includes species known as siskins, canaries, redpolls, serins, grosbeaks and euphonias.
The crossbill is a genus, Loxia, of birds in the finch family (Fringillidae), with six species. These birds are characterised by the mandibles with crossed tips, which gives the group its English name. Adult males tend to be red or orange in colour, and females green or yellow, but there is much variation.
The parasitic jaeger, also known as the Arctic skua, Arctic jaeger or parasitic skua, is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. The word "jaeger" is derived from the German word Jäger, meaning "hunter". The English "skua" comes from the Faroese name skúgvur[ˈskɪkvʊər] for the great skua, with the island of Skúvoy known for its colony of that bird. The general Faroese term for skuas is kjógvi[ˈtʃɛkvə]. The genus name Stercorarius is Latin and means "of dung"; the food disgorged by other birds when pursued by skuas was once thought to be excrement. The specific parasiticus is from Latin and means "parasitic".
The gull-billed tern, formerly Sterna nilotica, is a tern in the family Laridae. The genus name is from Ancient Greek gelao, "to laugh", and khelidon, "swallow". The specific niloticus is from Latin and means of the Nile. The Australian gull-billed tern was previously considered a subspecies.
The Scottish crossbill is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is endemic to the Caledonian Forests of Scotland, and is the only terrestrial vertebrate species endemic to the United Kingdom. The Scottish crossbill was confirmed as a unique species in August 2006, on the basis of having a distinctive bird song.
The red crossbill or common crossbill 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 fruits.
The two-barred crossbill or white-winged crossbill is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
The evening grosbeak is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae found in North America.
The pine grosbeak is a large member of the true finch family, Fringillidae. It is the only species in the genus Pinicola. It is found in coniferous woods across Alaska, the western mountains of the United States, Canada, and in subarctic Fennoscandia and across the Palearctic to Siberia. The species is a frugivore, especially in winter, favoring small fruits, such as rowans. With fruit-crop abundance varying from year to year, pine grosbeak is one of many subarctic-resident bird species that exhibit irruptive behavior. In irruption years, individuals can move long distances in search of suitable food supplies, bringing them farther south and/or downslope than is typical of years with large fruit crops.
The pine siskin is a North American bird in the finch family. It is a migratory bird with an extremely sporadic winter range.
The Java sparrow, also known as Java finch, Java rice sparrow or Java rice bird, is a small passerine bird. This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in Java, Bali and Bawean in Indonesia. It is a popular cage bird, and has been introduced into many other countries. Some taxonomists place this and the Timor sparrow in their own genus Padda.
The black skimmer is a tern-like seabird, one of three similar birds species in the skimmer genus Rynchops in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in North and South America. Northern populations winter in the warmer waters of the Caribbean and the tropical and subtropical Pacific coasts, but the South American races make only shorter movements in response to annual floods which extend their feeding areas in the river shallows.
The Hispaniolan crossbill is a crossbill that is endemic to the island of Hispaniola, and the only representative of the Loxia genus in the Caribbean.
The maroon-fronted parrot is a large, macaw-like parrot. It is dark green with a dark red shoulder and a maroon forehead and eye-stripe. Its underside of the wings and tail appear to be black when it is in flight. It makes a high, rolling cr-a ak sound. Groups sound similar to the acorn woodpecker if they are heard from a distance.
The cardueline finches are a subfamily, Carduelinae, one of three subfamilies of the finch family Fringillidae, the others being the Fringillinae and the Euphoniinae. The Hawaiian honeycreepers are now included in this subfamily. Except for the Hawaiian honeycreepers which underwent adaptive radiation in Hawaii and have evolved a broad range of diets, cardueline finches are specialised seed eaters, and unlike most passerine birds, they feed their young mostly on seeds, which are regurgitated. Besides this, they differ from the other finches in some minor details of their skull. They are adept at opening seeds and clinging to stems, unlike other granivorous birds, such as sparrows and buntings, which feed mostly on fallen seeds. Some members of this subfamily are further specialised to feed on a particular type of seed, such as cones in the case of crossbills. Carduelines forage in flocks throughout the year, rather than keeping territories, and males defend their females rather than a territory or nest.
The red-headed finch is a common species of estrildid finch found in Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 1,600,000 km2. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The collared grosbeak is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. Its range encompasses the northern regions of the Indian Subcontinent, mainly the Himalayas, along with some adjoining regions. It is found in Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand. Its natural habitat is mountainous deciduous or mixed forests.
The Cuban bullfinch is a songbird species of the genus Melopyrrha. It is a member of the tanager family Thraupidae and belongs to the subfamily Coerebinae which also includes the Darwin's finches.
Flexible or opportunistic breeders mate whenever the conditions of their environment become favorable. Their ability and motivation to mate are primarily independent of day-length (photoperiod) and instead rely on cues from short-term changes in local conditions like rainfall, food abundance and temperature. Another factor is the presence of suitable breeding sites, which may only form with heavy rain or other environmental changes.
The Cassia crossbill is a passerine bird in the family Fringillidae. It is endemic to the South Hills and Albion Mountains in southern Idaho. Cassia crossbill rarely interbreeds with other call types that move into the South Hills of Idaho yearly, and can be considered to represent a distinct species via ecological speciation. The Cassia crossbill have specialized beaks to access the seeds of the lodgepole pine cones in this region, but are poorly adapted to other pine cones in surrounding regions.
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