Chup! Chup!

I heard the loud and distinctive "chup! chup!" call of Crossbills this afternoon and looked up to see a flock of 10 of these dumpy finch-like birds – equipped with slightly comical overlapping mandibles that are perfectly designed for extracting seeds from pine cones – flying high down the valley. Crossbills breed very early in the year and roam the countryside in summer and autumn, in sometimes very large flocks, seeking out fruiting conifers.