CROSSBILL
This is a very secretive bird which spends much of its time at the top of conifer trees. As you will know, I spend a lot of time at Livadi marsh, sitting under the spruce trees looking out over the marsh. I have been hearing the crossbills but only recently managed a few photos. They are members of the finch family and attain a length of 170mm. The female is a grey-green or yellowish green with dark wings. Females have a yellowish rump with heavy streaking on the back but no streaking on the under parts. The males are a glorious brick red with dark wings. Both sexes have deeply forked tails and crossed bills.
The crossed bill is primarily used to extract the seeds from pinecones, but it is also used to deseed fruits, such as apples and pears. I believe they are resident here, but they are absent for long periods as they go in search of fresh supplies of fir cones. They are early breeders and produce 3 to 4 eggs in a nest, high up in a conifer, between January and March. As previously mentioned, they eat the seeds of fir cones, fruit seeds, buds and insects. Due to their dry diet, they require frequent visits to pools to drink. They burst out of treetops with a direct undulating flight of fast wingbeats followed by glides.
