There are many types of beaks in the bird world, and some are more specialized than others.
Long, short, hooked, sharp, conical, flat, pointed, strong or weak are just a few of the many descriptions fitting the bill.
Beaks are used not only for eating, but also for feeding offspring, gathering materials and building nests, courting and even defending or attacking. Birds also use their bills to preen and remove parasites, as well as to adjust and realign feathers over most of their body.
The shape and size of each species' bill is specific for the type of food it gathers. Birds may find their food in water or in mud, in the air, inside flowers, seeds, or in wood.
The hummingbird has a long, slender bill that enables it to probe and drink nectar from deep inside flowers. Herons have long sharp beaks perfect for spearing fish.
Some members of the heron family have been observed placing insects, feathers or other items in front of them on the water's surface as bait to attract fish to within reach of their long extendible necks and bills.
Cardinals, grosbeaks and finches have heavy thick bills, tailored for cracking the husks of seeds to reach the soft kernel inside. Hawks have hooked bills for tearing meat.
These differences in bird beaks are known as physical adaptations; animal adaptations are any body shape process, or behavior that allows an organism to survive in its environment, and beaks are just one particular adaptation of birds.
Having specialized eating habits also makes it possible for different species to exist in the same environment without having to compete for the same foods.
The turkey vulture on the South Plains dines on a carcass, while the western kingbird takes insects on the wing. The black-crowned night heron grabs fish and invertebrates in area playa lakes, while blue jays busily crack open sunflower seeds and peanuts at your feeder. The roadrunner uses its beak to catch small mice or lizards, and then kill and tenderize them on a rock.
Vermilion flycatchers have short wide beaks surrounded by whiskers called rictal bristles that work together to funnel flying insects into their mouth while on the wing. The edges of a mallard's bill are fringed to strain plants, seeds, and small animals from mud and water. Western meadowlarks use their long pointed bills to probe for insects in the ground.
Cunning and resourceful, members of the Corvid family (magpies, jays, crows, ravens) have versatile and specialized beaks that are used as all-purpose tools to crack, hammer, pry, poke, scoop or stab.
The European starling uses its beak with a reverse scissor-like motion through blades of grass gleaning grubs. The dowitcher's long bill probes deep in the mud, with only the pliable tip opening to take in an insect meal.
Woodpeckers have hard chisel-like beaks used to hollow out nests in tree cavities or search for insects in tree bark. The flicker, a species of woodpecker, has large salivary glands that secrete a sticky substance for its tongue, and when the flicker pokes his tongue into an anthill, the insects are caught in the mucus and eaten.
White pelicans have a large skin pouch on the underside of their bottom beak. This pouch serves as a net for scooping up fish, water and all. Once fish are trapped, the pelican closes its beak, drains out the water and proceeds to swallow the fish whole. Other fish-eating birds, such as mergansers, have serrations inside the beak designed to hold slippery, squirming fish.
Beaks also are critical tools for nest building. Not all birds build nests, but those that do instinctively know how to build the type of nest characteristic of its species.
Many tropical birds use their beaks to construct hanging nests that help keep the occupants out of a predator's reach as well as to protect them from heavy rainfall. Some nests are built with fake entrance ending in a dead-end to foil predatory snakes.
Tailorbirds of Southeast Asia sew leaves together to build a funnel-shaped nest; these tiny birds use their sharp bills like needles, piercing holes along the edges of large green leaves. Next they thread plant fibers through the holes.
One of the best clues as to what a particular bird eats is its bill. Beaks can work like pincers, hammers, chisels, nutcrackers, hooks, spears, and strainers. No matter what the job, a bird beak of some sort will probably be able to tackle it.
CAROL MITCHELL is the executive director of the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Inc. She can be reached at email@example.com
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