Bird Identification - Legs/Feet

Just as bird bill shapes can be telling about bird habitat, so can legs and feet. Webbed feet and claws, and long legs vs short legs can be good field marks. For birds that walk along the ground, foot identification can be useful in identifying tracks.

The placement of the legs in ducks tells a difference between pochards (diving ducks) and dabbling ducks. Notice in the picture below, how the pochard legs are positioned farther back on the body. The dabbling ducks' legs are positioned in the middle of the body.

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The pochards' leg position makes it very difficult for them to walk. If you see a duck walking around, it's most likely a dabbling duck. The heavy body and set back and apart legs require the pochard to get a running start on the water before flight.

The dabbling duck is well adapted to walking on land and their bodies are able to take off directly from the water without a running start.

The coot, above, has lobed toes. This is distinctive about them over ducks and gallinules.

Cranes, herons and egrets are also regularly seen on refuge marshes. Their legs are long, allowing them to walk in the shallow marshes. The cranes will sleep in the water, away from predators. Egrets and herons perch and nest in trees. The absense of webbing allows perching.

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The next set of feet may seem to resemble those above, but turkey feet and roadrunner feet are adapted to moving on the ground. These birds spend most of their lives on the ground, moving by foot, rather than flying. Their habitat, due to their ground-dwelling behavior, requires lots of open space on the ground. These birds won't be found in

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dense brush areas, as they wouldn't be able to move around under the canopy.

Turkeys, unlike roadrunners,

do roost in the trees and prefer riparian areas. Roadrunners are completely ground-dwelling and will be found in dry, flat areas, such as mesquite groves.

One big foot identification difference - with roadrunner feet, two toes point forward and two toes point back. Turkey tracks will have three toes forward and one in the back.

The feet to the right resemble groundbird feet, with their long toes and claws, but these feet are not adapted to move on the ground. Nightjars, swifts, swallows and hummingbirds have feet that are exclusively adapted for flight and these birds are unable to walk or hop.

The long toe is thought to be used for grooming, typically called the "feather comb".

Another type of foot is the raptor foot. The raptor foot has talons that greatly resemble the bill shape. The talons are long, large and hooked - assisting them as birds of prey. The feet of the birds are able to close tightly to carry things in flights and also to use the talons to pull prey apart. These feet are also adapted to perching on tree limbs.

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