I came across a foraging Buff-banded Rail as I was passing through the
Roma St Parklands yesterday. Whereas a Junglefowl, Scrubfowl, Turkey
or Logrunner would be busily scratching away in the leaf litter, the
BBR was using its bill to fossick for food in a flower bed.
This got me thinking about the nature of ground-feeding species that
forage with their feet vs species that forage exclusively with their
bills.
I suspect there are few examples of shorebirds that use their feet to
uncover food (I've seen a gull paddling its feet on the water's edge
but that's pretty much an exception). In contrast, a number of
dryland birds are very dependent on their feet to uncover food. The
thing about the BBR was that it was foraging with its bill in a medium
that other species would use their feet to clear.
So what is it that sets the programming for ground-feeding behaviour?
Some shorebird species would seem to have feet that could be used for
foraging ...
Regards, Laurie.
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