The red crossbill

The red crossbill is a colourful species that lives mainly in small groups. This bird, which is nomadic to coniferous forests, settles in areas where spruces produce well, as its main source of food comes from the spruce seeds found in the centre of cones or pine-nuts.
To get to these seeds, this bird hangs upside down from the cone, inserts its beak under the cone’s leaves and opens its mandibles to separate them, retrieving the seeds with its tongue. The bird starts at the bottom of the cone and works its way upwards in a spiral fashion.