Red Crossbill Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: Red Crossbills are a species that are unpredictable winter visitors in my part South Dakota, but I've never had one at my feeders. I've seen them in the Black HIlls multiple times, but closer to home, the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Sioux Falls often has them in winter! There are some very tall, very old spruce trees in the cemetery, and in years with good spruce cone crops, there are sometimes Red Crossbills or White-winged Crossbills. For my favorite photo, I'll go with a bird from the cmeetery, and I'll go with this beautiful female, showing that cross-bill namesake.

Red Crossbill - Loxia curvirostra


Red Crossbill 1	Red Crossbill 2	Red Crossbill 3	Red Crossbill 4
June 17th, 2008	June 17th, 2008	January 5th, 2020	January 5th, 2020
Trout Lake, Washington	Trout Lake, Washington	Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Male in profile, standing on rocky ground	Male and two females, holding a conference	Female posing in a spruce tree with cones	Male, posing in a spruce tree with cones

Red Crossbill 5	Red Crossbill 6	Red Crossbill 7	Red Crossbill 8
June 17th, 2008	June 17th, 2008	January 5th, 2020	July 7th, 2008
Trout Lake, Washington	Trout Lake, Washington	Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Pactola Reservoir, Black Hills, South Dakota
Male giving a great view of the crossbill namesake	Female in profile, standing on rocky ground	Male actively feeding on a spruce cone	Male, standing on ground amidst pine needles and pine cones

Red Crossbill 9	Red Crossbill 10	Red Crossbill 11	Red Crossbill 12
July 7th, 2008	July 7th, 2008	July 7th, 2008	July 7th, 2008
Pactola Reservoir, Black Hills, South Dakota	Pactola Reservoir, Black Hills, South Dakota	Pactola Reservoir, Black Hills, South Dakota	Pactola Reservoir, Black Hills, South Dakota
Immature male, partially moulted from orangish feathering	Immature male posing on ground with pine needles and pine cone	Female portrait, perched on a pine tree branch	Female, posing on top of a pine cone

Red Crossbill 13	Red Crossbill 14	Red Crossbill 15
July 7th, 2008	January 5th, 2020	January 5th, 2020
Pactola Reservoir, Black Hills, South Dakota	Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Female, posing on top of a pine cone	Male posing in sunlight on a spruce tree	Male posing on a spruce tree with cones