Loxia curvirostra
Loxia curvirostra
It is a species native to temperate and boreal climates of the Holarctic, including Eurasia and North America (BirdLife International, 2024). Its European distribution is fragmented, with the highest abundances in the south and west (Keller et al., 2020). In Spain, being a forest finch specialized in conifers, it is abundant in mountain systems with extensive pine forests in the Pyrenees, the Central System, the Iberian System, and the Baetic ranges, and is absent from mountain areas dominated by oak forests such as Montes de Toledo or Sierra Morena. It also occurs in Levantine pinewoods in Valencia, Catalonia, and on Mallorca and Ibiza, but is absent from the Canary Islands (Senar and Borràs in SEO/BirdLife, 2022).
In the province of Madrid it is present in the northwestern area, coinciding with the Scots pine forests (Díaz et al., 1994).
In the national park its highest abundances are found in the forests north of the Morcuera pass, in the oak woodlands above the town of Rascafría, and in the Scots pine slopes of the Fuenfría valley and north of the Navafría pass.
The common crossbill inhabits coniferous forests, with its populations in the Iberian Peninsula adapting to the cone types of different pine species (Senar et al., 1993). These subpopulations differ acoustically, morphologically, and genetically (Edelaar et al., 2012), and are therefore geographically distinguished, mainly occurring in thermomediterranean, alpine, and mesomediterranean pinewoods.
In the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, the common crossbill reaches its highest densities in forested environments, especially in Scots pine (or mountain pine) forests. It also appears associated with shrub habitats, but always when these are connected to tree-dominated forest environments.
At a global scale it is considered a Least Concern species (LC; 2017). In Europe it would also be classified in the same category (LC; 2021). In Spain it is listed as Least Concern in the 2021 Red List.
The Catalogue of Threatened Species of the Community of Madrid (1992) does not place the species in any threat category.
BirdLife International 2024. IUCN Red List for birds. https://datazone.birdlife.org.
Díaz, M., Martí, R., Gómez-Manzaneque, Á. y Sánchez, A. 1994. Atlas de las aves nidificantes en Madrid. Agencia de Medio Ambiente y SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Keller, V., Herrando, S., Voříšek, P., Franch, M., Kipson, M., Milanesi, P., Martí, D., Antón, M., Klvaňová, A., Kalyakin, M. V. Bauer, H. Gr y Foppen, R. P. B. 2020. European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Birds Census Council y Lynx Edicions. Barcelona.
Edelaar, P., Alonso, D., Lagerveld, S., Senar, J. C. y Björklund, M. 2012. Population differentiation and restricted gene flow in Spanish crossbills: not isolation-by-distance but isolation-by-ecology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 25: 417-430.
Senar, J. C., Borràs, A., Cabrera, T. y Cabrera, J. 1993. Testing for the relationship between coniferous crop stability and Common Crosbill residence. Journal of Field Ornithology, 64: 464-469.
SEO/BirdLife (Molina, B., Nebreda, A., Muñoz, A. R., Seoane, J., Real, R., Bustamante, J. y Del Moral, J. C., eds.). 2022. III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.