Cassia Crossbill Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  The Cassia Crossbill, like other crossbills, is a small but stocky songbird with a notched tail and a characteristic crisscrossed bill. This crossbill has a thicker bill than most Red Crossbills (though difficult to discern in the field), adapted to pry apart the hefty scales of Rocky Mountain lodgepole pines in Idaho's South Hills.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Cassin's Finch, smaller than an Evening Grosbeak.

  sparrow-sized or smaller

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Weight: 1.0-1.6 oz (28-44 g)

  © Shawn Billerman / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Male Cassia Crossbills have grayish-brown bodies that are dashed with crimson reds and orangish hues. Females are grayish-green overall with a bit more yellow on the belly. Immature birds look like females, but have a streaked breast.

• Behavior

  Groups of Cassia Crossbills fly in an undulating pattern through lodgepole pine forests searching for trees with a good cone crop. They dangle from cones and branches using their crisscrossed bill to extract the seeds or eat fallen seeds off the ground.

• Habitat

  Cassia Crossbills occur only in lodgepole pine forests in the South Hills and Albion Mountains in Idaho. They are more common in older and more open lodgepole pine forests.