Bird Identification - Bill Shape

Bird bills can be very revealing about what the bird eats - and that can give you clues to where the bird lives. There are several different bill types - from cracking bills to shredding bills and many, many more.

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The first bills that we will look at are waterfowl bills. We typically call these birds "strainers" because they take in both food and water when feeding, straining the water out the sides of their bill to seperate it from the food. The lower mandibles are generally flat, allowing the water to strain out of the sides. Geese bills are shorter and more rounded, adapted for both green plants and seeds. Duck, Loon, Merganser and Cormorant bills are longer, as they feed primarily in the water. These birds live in shallow water, where plant roots, seeds and invertebrates are plentiful.

Both the N. Pintail and the A. Wigeon are dabbling ducks; they feed by tipping tail-up in the water. Other ducks, pochards, dive into the water to get food. Loons also make shallow dives for food.

Mergansers are true divers, their thin, serrated bills aid them in catching fish, crustaceans and insects. Cormorants are also true divers, and may be seen swimming with only their neck and head above water.

Wading birds also inhabit the shallow waters. These birds are generally taller, with longer legs and necks, as well as longer bills.

Egrets and herons spend much of their life in the water, using their long, pointy bills to spear small fish. The long neck allows their bill to spear into the water while standing on tall legs. Egrets and herons fly with their long necks folded into their bodies.

Cattle egrets are the exception to the rule - their smaller, chunkier bodies and shorter bills roam farm fields, riding on cows and following tractors - spearing grasshoppers and other small delicacies.

The ibis bill is downturned, long, and thin. While they share habitat with the "spearing" egrets and herons, they do not compete for food, because they are "probers". Ibises walk around in the marshes, probing in the mud for insects and plants.

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resembling the razor-sharp talons, also used in shredding.

Using the bill shape to decipher what the species eats is really easy with raptors. The bill is just right for tearing into prey - such as fish, small mammals, other birds and roadkill. Knowing what it eats, we can understand where it lives. Where are many turkey vultures found? Around

Let's move to smaller species. To the left you see 3 different types of bills - the conical quail bill, the longer shrike bill and the long, downward-curved cuckoo and thrasher bills.

The bobwhite is commonly compared to a chicken due to the short, familiar bill. This small bill can crack open weed seeds and insect exoskeletons, but isn't suitable for

acorns, probing in the mud or shredding prey. Seeing the small bill, we can figure that this bird feeds on insects and small weed/grass seeds - therefore, this bird will live in a grassland. Actually, the bobwhite will commonly live in any overgrown brushy roadsides and fencerows where food is abundant.

Shrikes are songbirds that live like birds of prey - their bills are suitable for capturing large insects, rodents, small birds and lizards. The upper mandible curves down, giving them good shredding ability. These birds are generally called "butcher-birds" because they impale their prey on thorns and barbed wire.

In contrast, the thrasher and cuckoo bills are long and thin. Their bills are not suitable for crunching hard seed shells or ripping into prey - instead these birds feed on caterpillars and other insects.

To the right, there are 3 more different types of bills. The short, fat cardinal bill, the short, slim bunting bill and the long, thin robin bill.

The cardinal is in a group we call "crackers". They are well known for their thick bills and are referred to as "grosbeaks". The short, robust beak is well equipped for cracking open sunflower and other seeds, as well as berries.

Buntings are also referred to as "grosbeaks", but you can see that they exhibit a much slimmer bill than the cardinals. This slight difference allows the different species to live in the same area without being direct competitors. They may prefer different seeds. Cardinals will generally frequent feeders, while buntings are less common.

The robin's bill is longer and thinner. This beak is a "probing" or "tweezer" beak. The saying "the early bird gets the worm" comes from the robin. The long bill probes into the soil and pulls out a worm. This is the similar to woodpeckers, who use the long, thin beak to get insects out of the tree bark.

More such "tweezer" birds are shorebirds, like those seen in the picture to the left. Shorebirds have long, slender bills to reach deep into the mud for invertebrates. The varying shapes and lengths minimize competition between species and make it easier for observers to distinguish between them.

Shorebirds are not always found on the shore. Killdeer, in the plover family, can be found almost anywhere water is available - including football fields.

Shorebirds will eat surface insects and crustaceans or tweeze into the mud to find them. The holes left by crystal diggers on the salt flats are good places for shorebirds to find brine flies living in the water left in the hole.

The beak difference makes a difference in feeding habits. For instance, the plovers run a few feet, stop and tweeze in the mud, then run again. This behavior probably has a lot to do with their short necks and short bills. The American avocet, on the other hand, has a long neck and a long beak, so it can often be seen in the water, probing around, like an ibis.

These are just some of the bird bill shapes that you will see as you start bird identification. But being able to identify types of birds, by their bill shape, will help you on your way. Understanding feeding is just one step in observing and understanding their behavior.

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