Pastor’s Notes

Crossbills are finches with remarkable morphological and behavioral adaptations that illustrate God’s design for His creatures. Their beaks allow them to feed from pine, spruce, and Douglas fir or from other conifers that most other birds cannot utilize. The lower jaw crosses (can go either to the right or the left) over the upper one and the tips are inserted between the scales of cones to pry the scales apart. The tongue will lift the seed from the cone once the scales have been parted. Individuals can consume up to 3,000 conifer seeds per day but, while they depend primarily upon cone seed, they may also eat the buds of some trees, weed seeds, berries, and some insects, especially aphids, when resources dwindle. The crossbill is mainly a northern resident, but populations will regularly irrupt south when cone production fails. Adult males tend to be red or orange in color, and females green or yellow, but there is much variation affected in part by the differing anthocyanin content of the cones they feed on, as these pigments are transferred to the feathers and contribute to color. Breeding is opportunistic and can occur throughout the year, even mid-winter, whenever food intake is sufficient for the female to lay 3-5 eggs and raise young. Although they can be locally abundant, nomadism, due to often unreliable food sources, typically forces this species to range extensively to feed.The bills of young birds are not crossed at hatching, but by 45 days they are crossed enough for the young to extract seeds from cones.

There are some spiritual life lessons that we can take home from examining the life of this small bird. Like the Crossbill we too are what we what we consume. Just as the crossbill is colored by what he consumes so are we; when we regularly feed upon the Word, immerse ourselves in prayer and training opportunities we will reflect what we gain and we will be “colored” by it. This is especially true for our little ones as we are told that if we bring up a child in the way that he should go that he will return to it! Just like the crossbill we are to be opportunistic in that we to take advantage of every opportunity and literally “irrupt” into the lives of those that have never given their lives to Jesus Christ. We have uniquely fashioned individual talent that will enable us to fit into God’s plan just like His uniquely designed creatures. Where is your niche in God’s plan?
Your Pastor,
Dr. H