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Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas 1
Atlas 1 data collected from 1975-1979
White-winged Crossbill
Loxia leucoptera Egg Dates:
Number of broods:
The White-winged Crossbill is the most
recent addition to the list of birds known to
have bred in Massachusetts. Although there
have been sporadic summer reports of
White-winged Crossbills in western Massachusetts
for a number years (Griscom &
Snyder 1955, Veit & Petersen 1993), until
2001 there was never conclusive evidence of
local nesting. Since crossbills are nomadic
breeders throughout much of their range, the
presence of individuals in summer, even
flying young, makes confirmation of local
nesting problematic. For example, in northern
New England, positive proof of nesting
was not obtained during breeding bird atlas
efforts in Vermont in the 1970s (Laughlin &
Kibbe 1985) and New Hampshire in the
1980s (Foss 1994), despite the fact that the
species almost certainly breeds in these
states, at least irregularly. Although the
White-winged Crossbill is a more or less
regular breeder in northern Maine (Adamus
1988), as well as an irregular breeder in the
Adirondack region and Appalachian plateau
of New York (Levine 1998), Massachusetts is
south of the species’ regular breeding range
elsewhere in North America, other than in
central New York (American Ornithologist’s
Union 1998).
During the summer of 2000, Whitewinged
Crossbills were numerous in spruce
areas in northern Berkshire County and
were variously observed singing and engaging
in courtship activity in the towns of
Ashfield, Dalton, Savoy, and Windsor. By the
winter of 2000-2001, before actual nesting
confirmation was established, the continued
presence of many singing and courting birds
in this region provided increased optimism
for a first Bay State breeding confirmation.
This confirmation was finally obtained on
February 22, 2001, when Geoffrey LeBaron
observed a rosy male White-winged Crossbill
feeding four barely able-to-fly juveniles
in Windsor, Berkshire County (BOEM).
Although it is likely that small numbers
of crossbills nested in the Berkshire Hills
during the winter of 2000-2001, the erratic
and nomadic breeding behavior of this
species may cause it not to breed again in
the Bay State for many years. In general this
species is best characterized as an irregular
winter visitor in Massachusetts, occasionally
occurring in major winter invasions yet
often entirely absent.
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Copyright © 2003 edited by Wayne R. Petersen and W. Roger Meservey. Published by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Distributed by the University of Massachusetts Press, P.O. Box 429, Amherst, Massachusetts 01004-0429.
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