Red Crossbill

Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) is a compact finch with mandibles crossed at their tips; males are usually red or orange and females greenish or yellow. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It inhabits conifer forests and uses its specialised bill to prise apart cone scales and extract seeds, moving nomadically when cone crops fail and showing wide variation in bill shape and calls. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).