Appearance:

Unmistakable if seen well. Corvoid-like at a distance, and may be mistaken for Jay if no plumage characters are visible. Tail is however quite a bit shorter, and wings slightly longer. Flight-feathers dark, contrasting with turquois coverts, both below and above. Underparts especially striking in flight, being pale blue (sometimes seemingly white) all over, except dark flight-feathers and base of tail. Bill heavy. Immature duller than adults with faint streaked breast and slightly rufous coverts. Wing-beats deep and regular. Flies mostly in a straight line. Migrating birds move in characteristic procession-like formations.

Sound:

Various dry rasping, sometimes mewing, sounds and short clicks: "ahrahrahrahrahrahrahr" or pulse of clicks: "trrrtrrrrtrr". Also a clearer raptor- or jay-like descending "piiuu".

Display calls:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

CC-sound:Jarek Matusiak, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Very similar to Crossbill, but has thicker neck, bigger head, hardly any forehead and deeper bill. Upper mandible is more curved towards the tip than in Crossbill, and the lower mandible is s-shaped with a "bulge". The tip of the lower mandible is seldom visible from behind the upper. The chest is deeper, and many birds have a front heavy appearance. Adult males shows most distinct characters of the species, and other sexes/ages may be difficult to identify because of overlapping characters with Crossbill. Plumage similar to Crossbill, with dark wings and tail. Males with rufous red head and body, females green. Juveniles greyish green with streaking. Posture less erect than Crossbill, which, together with short tail, contributes to the front heavy impression.

Sound:

Contact call similar to Crossbill's "chepp", but is on average deeper and lacks the "cut-off" ending of each call. In sum: Parrot Crossbill; hard attack, soft ending, Crossbill: softer attack, cut-off ending. The song consist of improvised, resonant twittering and series of contact calls with no apparent phrases. It is generally slower than in Crossbill, with marked pauses.

Song:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Lauri Hallikainen http://www.xeno-canto.org/CC license