Finches

White-winged Crossbill

Bindenkreuzschnabel

Loxia leucoptera

Finches14 photosFirst seen: 16 August 2026

The White-winged Crossbill is a nomadic boreal finch specialized for extracting seeds from conifer cones. Its crossed mandibles prise cone scales apart while the tongue removes the seed. Flocks can move over great distances when cone crops fail and may breed whenever food is abundant, even in winter. Adult males are rose-red and females olive-yellow; both sexes show two white wingbars.

ID tip: Look for the crossed bill together with two bold white wingbars. Red Crossbills usually lack the wingbars, while Pine Siskins are smaller, streakier and show yellow in the wings.

First seen: 16 August 2026 · Denali National Park · 14 photos in the collection.

Places in my records

Locations where this species is supported by a dated first record, an unambiguous single-place outing or a reviewed assignment.

Denali National Park16 August 2026

Family: Finches (Fringillidae)
Length: 15–17 cm
Wingspan: 26–28 cm
Regional status: Year-round resident (Alaska, USA)
Conservation: Least Concern LCIUCN Red List · retrieved 27 August 2026
Habitat: Boreal spruce and tamarack forests, moving widely to follow heavy cone crops
Diet: Primarily conifer seeds; also buds, berries and insects

Built from verified occurrence records, not drawn by hand. Core range = the countries holding 99% of all records; the rest are scattered or vagrant records. Record counts track where people watch birds as much as where the birds are, so the map shows presence, not abundance. Data: GBIF (CC BY 4.0). Basemap: Natural Earth.

Selected photographs

Complete photo archiveAll 14 published photographs of this species, including the selected main gallery.Open all 14 photos in the archive →