: Nomadic. both in terms of year and time of year depending on spruce cone crops. In years with a heavy White Spruce cone crop, the most frequent pattern is for groups to arrive in late Jun- late Jul, immediately set about nesting and raising their young, and largely departing late Aug-late Sep. In a few years with heavy Red Spruce cone crop, White-winged Crossbills arrive early Dec-early Jan and nest over the winter months and depart early-late Mar. In years with poor spruce cone production, crossbills are usually recorded in very small numbers. These are presumably nomads looking for heavy cone tops but leaving quickly if there are none to be found. In some years, they are totally absent.
Miscellany: White-winged Crossbills occur across the boreal forests from Alaska to Nova Scotia and we don't know where our birds that come from...possibly all the way from Alaska.
You can learn more about White-winged Crossbills and see images here.
Last Updated: October 14th, 2022