The story of the bird
A male White-winged Crossbill, raspberry red shading to rose, with two clean white bars across each dark wing and the strange scissored bill that gives the bird its name. The print sets him on a sprig of spruce with two cones, because that is the whole story of this finch: the mandibles cross so he can lever apart conifer scales and lift the seed with his tongue. Where the cone crop is good he stays and breeds, even in deep winter; where it fails he vanishes, and a whole region can go years without one.
That nomadic boreal life is part of why birders prize a sighting, and why the bird makes such a satisfying plate. He is built around a single tool, and the drawing lets you read it.
Paper and finish
Available in three sizes on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308gsm, an archival cotton rag with a soft matte surface. Printed by Prodigi with pigment inks rated 100+ years under display conditions. Framed prints are glazed, no mat, in black, white or natural.
