Do Birds Have Knees? by Stephen Moss

Author:Stephen Moss
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472932365
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

Young Little Owls beg their parents for food

How have birds’ bills adapted to their different diets?

Because birds deal with food using their bill, this appendage has evolved a wonderful variety of shapes and sizes to exploit the full spectrum of grub on offer. Taking just one group, waders, as an example: plovers have a short, stubby bill for picking up small items; Dunlins have a longer, thinner, down curved bill for probing beneath the surface; avocets have an upcurved bill for sweeping across the water to snap up tiny morsels; and Snipes have a long, thick bill for poking right down into the mud. Every wader species has evolved a different bill shape to deal with the particular food it eats (and in doing so, has provided birders with a good way to tell them all apart). Other amazing bills include those of hummingbirds, which are long and thin for probing flowers for nectar; flamingos, shaped to allow them to filter out tiny organisms using their tongue as a pump; and birds of prey, whose bills are hooked and powerful for tearing meat.

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