Vol. 11 // This bird’s beak is criss cross-applesauce 🐦

Found throughout North America and Mexico

The Red Crossbill has a unique adaptation that sets it apart from other birds in the Finch family. They live in conifer forests and have beaks custom-made for accessing their favorite food: the seeds of conifer cones. Their beaks are criss-crossed to dig inside the cone grooves: they place the tips of their slightly open bills under a cone scale and bite down, then their crossed tips push the scale up, allowing them to sneak their tongue inside for tasty treats. The males are a rusty red or orange, while females can be a muted yellow or olive.

Fun fact: Red Crossbills breed at any time of year, whenever cones are plentiful.

Give a Hoot

Birding bits you should know about this week

👫 The kids are alright
America’s youth have a new favorite activity: birding
Why does the #birding tag on TikTok have 63 million views? Millennials—and increasingly Gen Z—love birding, thanks to the pandemic.

👥 The more the merrier
Dexter Patterson found his passion in the birding club he co-founded for people of color
The cofounder of the BIPOC Birding Club in Wisconsin talks about his life, his path toward birding, and the importance of diversity and inclusion in the hobby.

🏆 Race to the top
The 39th Annual World Series of Birding
Are you a birder in New Jersey? Register for the World Series of Birding on May 14 to compete to see the most species in 24 hours. These rules look very official.

🎉 Party in the USA
Birding festivals and events
Check out a running list of birding festivals and events near you, via All About Birds.

A Product We Love

Unique and worthy products from the wide world of birding you might enjoy

Adolphe Millet vintage scientific birds illustration poster. Brighten up any room with a splash of color and feathers. From $15

Your Shot

An amazing bird photo taken by one of our community members. Submit yours to hello@flyingcolors.co to be considered for an upcoming edition!

Food for Your Flying Friends

We now offer Flying Colors premium organic wild bird food in a beautiful three-gallon carton, perfect for easy pouring, storing, and recycling.

Choose from three custom blends — all made with 100% USDA certified organic ingredients and hand-mixed with love in New York's Hudson Valley.

If you subscribe for regular FREE shipments, you receive 10% off. There’s no commitment, and you can cancel at any time. ✨

Teach us, Sprite or Bird,

What sweet thoughts are thine:

I have never heard

Praise of love or wine

That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.

– “To a Skylark” by Percy Shelley

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About Us

Flying Colors makes premium organic wild bird food, offering ethically sourced, toxin-free seeds and nuts of the highest quality to nourish wild birds of all types and inspire birders of all ages. Each specialty blend and single origin creation is rigorously sourced & researched, and every jar is produced with love & packaged by hand in small batches in New York's Hudson Valley and tested in our own backyards.