Day 244: Red Crossbill

The Red Crossbill is another species that Jared was excited to see in Colorado, and we were lucky to see two birds up close for an extended period of time. They seemed oblivious to us as we snapped away on our camera.

As their name suggests, Red Crossbills have a bill that crosses at the tip. They specialize in feeding on conifer cones, particularly spruce species, and the unusual bill shape helps extract the seeds from the cone. Adult males tend to be red or orange in color, and females green or yellow, but there is a lot of variation.