I have had my best ever encounters and sightings of Crossbills this last two weeks thanks to Dave Stone – see link to the left – one of Devon's best birders who recently has become more and more interested in photography.  That doesn't make him any less worthy by the way!  He has a wealth of knowledge which never fails to impress me.

But back to Crossbills.  It was 10 days between my first decent photos of them when I snapped them on a particular birch tree before fluttering down to drink from a black, peat stained pool just beneath the tree.  As I sat photographing Nuthatches in flight I heard the excited ad unmistakeable chatter, songs and calls of a small flock as they flew in to the trees where I had photographed them 10 days previously.  I knew they had come to drink again so I quickly made my way quietly to a spot hidden behind a tree with a clear view of the birch tree.  Crossbills were dropping to the pool to drink from the high conifers above  but once down on the ground I  couldn't  see them because of dense undergrowth.  Then suddenly a female was on exactly the same branch that I had photographed them before and it was only seconds before it was joined by a female. Then another male came down as the first went to drink.  It was interesting to see how the males vary in hues of red.    How amazing to see them drinking like this.  In all, there were a dozen or so all taking their turn to drop down. 

Male Crossbill

Female Crossbill.

A different male. I don't know how to age Crossbills. I must do some real research to find out. Is this an immature male I wonder with the first picture of the more red bird being a true adult?

You can see that they are looking down towards the water.  The dullness of the pictures reflects the lighting conditions prevailing.

A good close up showing the odd crossed beak which is an adaptation  for almost exclusive feeding from the seeds contained in pine cones. You can tell that Crossbills feed in an area by the floor under trees being littered with pine cones. The reason that Crossbills need to leave the safety of high trees to drink is because their diet is almost entirely made up of pine seeds which are very dry and they have a need to drink regularly.