Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 17
Red Crossbill
Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Bird-Lore, 1912 · No restrictions
Bird

Red Crossbill

Loxia curvirostra
Finches, Euphonias, and Allies (Fringillidae)
Year-round resident. Expected at the creek in every month.
Field marks
A chunky finch whose mandibles cross at the tip, a built-in pair of pliers for prying open cones. Flies in tight, chattering flocks over the treetops.
Male & female
Males are brick-red to orange; females are olive-yellow.
Voice
Sharp 'kip-kip-kip' flight calls. There are at least ten 'call types', each loyal to its own kind of cone, and some may be separate species; ornithologists are still arguing about it, happily.
Diet
Conifer seeds almost exclusively, extracted cone by cone; Douglas-fir and hemlock are favourites here. A bird can get through a few thousand seeds a day.
Habitat
Conifer forest; nomadic, following cone crops across the continent like a very small, very focused travelling circus.
Nesting
Will nest in any month, even midwinter, whenever cones are abundant.
Size
5½–8 in long, 1–1½ oz: a handful of change, equipped with pliers.

The most-heard species at the creek so far, which fits a tall-conifer canopy; a good cone year means crossbills by the hundred.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 142 calls on 3 days, first Oct 29, last Oct 31

102100:00 — 4 calls001:00 — 1 calls02:00 — 4 calls03:00 — 2 calls304:00 — 5 calls05:00 — 3 calls06:00 — 1 calls607:00 — 7 calls08:00 — 21 calls09:00 — 9 calls910:00 — 8 calls11:00 — 7 calls12:00 — 5 calls1213:00 — 3 calls14:00 — 17 calls15:00 — 12 calls1516:00 — 7 calls17:00 — 6 calls18:00 — 0 calls1819:00 — 4 calls20:00 — 3 calls21:00 — 3 calls2122:00 — 5 calls23:00 — 5 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
3060Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 60 callsOct 30 — 44 callsOct 31 — 38 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 29 1:14 pm · 99% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 8:52 pm · 94% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 3:27 pm · 93% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 3:26 pm · 92% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

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.
From Wikipedia, "Red crossbill", CC BY-SA 4.0.