Record number of red crossbills seen in Swiss Alps
Red crossbills, small colourful birds with a parrot-like appearance, were particularly numerous this year as they passed over the Col de Bretolet in the Swiss Alps. The ringing station there intercepted more than 2,500 of them, a record.
“This number suggests that spring nesting was good this year,” Chloé Pang of the Swiss Ornithological Institute told Keystone-ATS. But it also means that the extreme weather conditions in autumn prevented this nomadic species from remaining in Switzerland, and forced them to migrate.
The movements of this brightly coloured bird, which resembles a mountain parrot, are highly dependent on the availability of food, particularly the fruiting of spruce trees. It feeds on the seeds that its hooked beak is capable of extracting. “The crossbill will not be in danger as long as it can rely on coniferous forests,” Pang said.
+ Swiss bird diversity particularly at risk
The colouring of the crossbill can vary between red, green and yellow. Only adult males have red plumage. Young birds are grey and have streaked plumage.
This nomadic species, which likes to travel in small groups, does not nest in the same region every year. “In 2022, the Swiss Ornithological Institute did not capture a single one at the Col de Bretolet,” Pang recalls.
Ringing makes it possible to study the phenology of migrations, to understand movements and peak numbers, and also to collect “precious data”, such as weight, state of health and sex, on the species.
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