During some winters, red crossbills will irrupt and come to stay among this large stand of pitch pines in Massachusetts. The bills of these birds have evolved in the seemingly misaligned shape as an advantage for getting into various pinecones like this to extract the seed. This shot shows this adaption in action. The pitch pine is native to Massachusetts and New England and most frequently occur in sandy barrens and is the only salt tolerant pine species in the region. I was lucky that some of the colorful males flew out of the trees and began to go after some of the pine ones on the ground to create this more simplified shot. It was a day with filtered sunshine, so I was happy with the reflected light in the shade under the trees.
