The White-winged Crossbill is a wanderer. It looks for spruce and tamarack cone seeds which it opens with its unusual crisscrossed bill.
Here is a male White-winged Crossbill at Taghum. Photo by Cynthia Fraser.
One never knows when this irruptive finch will appear. Although, we can make educated guesses about where. If they find a forest of cone-laden mature spruce trees, they may even stay and nest.
If you spot one crossbill, look around for a mate. To the left is a female White-winged Crossbill seen feeding near the male on January 25th at Taghum among a flock of Pine Siskins. They were mostly foraging on the ground. Photo by Cynthia.
The Pine Siskins were seen repeatedly eating plant matter, some of which they pulled from the ice. Photo by Cynthia.
Awesome photo of that male WW Crossbill. Nice.
Thank you for sharing your fine photos of two crossbills and siskins in your blog.