ANATOMY OF BIRDS
Bird Wings
Bird Bone Structure
Bird Feathers
Bird Pectoral Muscles
Bird Sternums
Bird Leg Bones
Bird Perching Bones
Bird Pelvic Bones
Bird Vertibrae
Bird Scull Structure
Woodpecker sculls
Bird Beaks
ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS
Bird Beaks
The beak part of the skull, as just stated, is subject to great modifications connected with the taking or manipulation of food, and may be long and slender like a probe, broad and flat, or short and strongly made for crushing seeds. The extent to which habit and modification may go is shown in the Pelican, Gannet, and Cormorant, and in all these diving birds the nostrils are completely filled up and the roof of the mouth strengthened by the growth of the bone.
The Cormorant starts in life with open nostrils, but by the time it is ready to take to the water and seek food for itself, the nostrils are completely closed by the growth of bone and overlying horny beak. These changes are accompanied by others in the bones of the palate by which the structures of this region are entirely changed and its real characters obscured.
The hyoid, all but the front portion, corresponds with the first gill arch of a fish and supports and controls the motion of the tongue. The tongue itself is built upon the front portion of the hyoid, which is subject to little modification, but the extent to which the tongue can be protruded depends on the length of the bones of the hinder part.
Hence in the Woodpeckers, which use their tongues as probes, the hinder parts of the hyoid curl up around the back of the head and may even, as in Colaptes, pass over and into the nasal chamber nearly to the tip of the beak. Thus from bill to toes, not merely the external form of the bird, but the underlying skeleton as well, is fashioned to adapt the bird to its surroundings. As William Kitchen Parker used to say,”Adaptation, adaptation is the keynote to the structure of a bird."
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