The Parrot Crossbill (Loxia pytyopsittacus) is the heavyweight of Sweden's pine forests — a robust finch with a large head and a powerful crossed bill built for prying open pine cones. It measures 16–18 cm with a wingspan of 30–33 cm and weighs 45–60 grams, and while it closely resembles the more familiar Red Crossbill, it is noticeably bulkier in the body, with a heavier head and a stouter, more blunt-tipped bill. The male is brick-red, sometimes with orange tones, while the female is olive-green to yellow-green; juveniles are greyish and heavily streaked. Bill size and head shape are the key, if subtle, features separating it from the Red Crossbill, and its deep, hard, clicking "kjopp-kjopp" call — noticeably lower and stronger than the Red Crossbill's lighter call — is often the surest way to tell the two apart.
Parrot Crossbills are tied to older pine forest across northern and central Sweden, where the population is roughly estimated at 10,000–50,000 pairs, though numbers fluctuate sharply from year to year depending on the pine seed crop. The species is nomadic, moving to wherever the seed harvest is good, which makes its distribution irregular; it can be seen year-round in suitable forest. Breeding is highly flexible and can begin as early as late winter if seed supply is good, with the nest placed high in a pine and the female laying 3–4 eggs — timing is governed entirely by the seed crop rather than the calendar. The diet consists almost entirely of pine seeds, extracted from cones with the powerful bill, which allows this species to open hard, not-yet-fully-ripe pine cones that other crossbills cannot manage; it also takes occasional insects and seeds from other conifers.
Read about this species in Swedish →