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Trent Watts | all galleries >> Birds >> Birds of Canada and U.S.A. >> Grosbeaks and Cardinals > Red Crossbill mandible variations.
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20-Mar-2020

Red Crossbill mandible variations.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

I noticed that some Red Crossbills had different deviations of the mandible when I was looking at my pictures. I found this interesting quote in "Birds of Saskatchewan by Smith, Houston and Roy". In a curious twist (no pun intended), the lower mandible of the White-wing crosses to the right 3 times more often than to the left: this is in contrast to the Red Crossbill, whose ratio is 1:1.


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hayl23-Mar-2020 11:04
I wonder - is this like being left or right handed in the bird world? Just kidding. Great photos showing the difference.
Don22-Mar-2020 21:53
Fascinating. There must be some interesting genetics underlying this. And I wonder what the implications are, if any, for individual fitness, i.e. is there any advantage in being crossed one way or the other.
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