Tag Archives: Common Crossbill

Birds at Christmas

Silkitoppa – Bohemian Waxwing – Bombycilla garrulus

The garden has been teeming with birds this Christmas. Some very rare visitors that we don’t see every year. Keeping them fed has been one of the Christmas chores and a happy one.

Three Bohemian Waxwings have decorated the garden with their stay. Their beautiful colours are hard to match.

Auðnutittlingur – Redpoll – Carduelis flammea

Redpolls stay with us most of the year and in winter they are never far away. There have been at least 20 – 25 every day.

Gráþröstur – Fieldfare – Turdus pilaris

Fieldfares very seldom grant us the favour of a visit at Christmas. Now we have had four of them most days. They are quite dominating and find it hard to share food with the others.

Krossnefur – Common Crossbill / Red Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra

The Crossbills are peaceful birds and their lovely colours make them stand out now when everything is covered in snow. Five of them have come here to feed daily and mingle with the other visitors.

Bjargdúfa – Rock dove – Columba livia

Now Rock Doves are becoming more and more common here in the garden and they make good use of the sunflower seeds that we put out. They are here in the dozens and we are sad to admit that we sometimes wish they would go somewhere else once in a while.

Other birds in the garden are Redwings, Blackbirds, Snow Buntings, Starlings and one very Christmassy Robin.

Colourful Crossbills brighten up the day

Krossnefur – Common Crossbill / Red Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra

In the last two years Common Crossbills have scarcely been seen in gardens in Selfoss. The reason is probably the abundance of seeds in pines and spruce trees. They have therefore enjoyed their stay in Icelandic forests with enough food to sustain them.

This autumn they started turning up here to visit the feeding trays and in the last few days we have had up to 9 Crossbills here enjoying the Sunflower seeds that we put out for the birds.
The Crossbills are colourful and tame and a great addition to the usual guests. They brighten up our days during the darkest period of the year.

Splendid colours in the snow

Krossnefur – Common Crossbill / Red Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra

A small flock of Common Crossbills regularly comes by and visits the feeding trays. The males stand out in their splendid red and orange colours and in the snow even more so. Around eight of them come every day but competition is a concern. The Blackbirds, Redwings and Starlings are bullies at the feeders.

Chicks in autumn

Krossnefur – Common Crossbill / Red Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra

Although it is the end of September with temperatures under zero and winter ahead of us, the Common Crossbill is with chicks.  Yesterday there were ten Crossbills in our feeders. Here a mother is feeding a chick which is probably not older than a couple of weeks. In this way the Common Crossbills are different from other Icelandic birds which only breed in spring and summer. The Common Crossbills seem to breed all year round, depending only on the availability of food.

The fruitful Crossbill

Krossnefur – Common Crossbill / Red Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra: Female feeding chick

The Common Crossbills have only been breeding in Iceland for as much as ten years. They are different from our other birds in that they are breeding for most of the year, depending on the availability of food. A lot of Common Crossbills now breed in the spruce and pine forests that are growing fast in the vicinity of Selfoss. Groups of them come by our garden to dine on sunflower seeds repeatedly during the day. The parents feed the young ones but they soon start fending for themselves.

The male its offspring

Common Crossbills are resourceful and tend to go some distances in search of food if need be. In their orange and yellow colours they light up our days but the South of Iceland has had more than its share of rain this spring and summer.

Two chicks waiting to be fed

Courtship in February

Krossnefur – Common Crossbill / Red Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra (males)

In the end of January and in February the male Common Crossbills become quite noticeable in the tops of the Lodgepole Pine forests (Pinus contorta) in Grímsnes area, South Iceland. They sing and try to catch the attention of the females.

Krossnefur – Common Crossbill / Red Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra (females)

Although it is still mid winter in Iceland they have obviously started courtship. Some seem now already paired and are feeding their spouses which is a sign that the nesting period is not far away.

A female and male Common Crossbills

The cones and seeds of the Lodgepole Pine are now becoming ripe and that seems to be the indicator that tells the birds that it is time for mating.

Chicks in winter

Krossnefur – Common Crossbill / Red Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra (pair)

There are a lot of Common Crossbills in spruce and pine forests now but these settlers seem to thrive well in Iceland and have become part of the Icelandic fauna.

Young Common Crossbill chick in December

Cones are in abundance and the Crossbills are therefore well fed. They have been breeding since autumn and even now in December we have seen young chicks, although February is the month you would expect them to start breeding.

Common Crossbills and Redpolls on a feeder

Chicks from the autumn are now feeding on their own but we still get them here in the garden where they can indulge themselves on sunflower seeds. The photos are from  last week in Grímsnes, South Iceland.

Adult colours appearing

Krossnefur – Common Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra (young male)

Through the summer we have put out feed for the birds, sunflower seed. In the end of May a Common Crossbill appeared with a few chicks, a male with its offsprings. In June the number of chicks multiplied and for a time there were two males with no less than sixteen baby chicks on the feeding tray.

Later the males disappeared leaving the chicks here on their own. They have been here the whole summer, often five to six of them but now they are eleven.

The chicks are becoming more mature and their plumage is taking on the colours of the adults. Reed and yellow orange feathers are appearing. The youngest, however, still hold on to their grey tones.

Garden birds

Músarrindill – Wren – Troglodytes troglodytes

July and August are usually the most peaceful months in the garden, meaning that there are not as many birds as in the winter months. We have continued putting out sunflower seed all summer so of course some birds come by regularly. Redwings, Blackbirds and Redpolls nested in our garden and in neighbouring gardens this summer. Most of these birds finished breeding in the end June except the Blackbird that breeds several times during the summer. According to our observations it is now breeding for the fifth time.

Young Red Crossbill

With the coming of autumn more and more birds appear in the garden and last week there were three Wrens here (ad+2 juv), a Goldcrest, Crossbills, Redpolls, Blackbirds, Redwings and Starlings.

Starling

On our blog you can see our weekly report on the birds in our garden: http://ornosk.com/weekly-bird-report/weekly-bird-report-2017/

Redpoll