birding-aus

Ibis RFI

To: <>
Subject: Ibis RFI
From: Syd Curtis <>
Date: Wed, 08 May 2002 14:49:23 +1000
Watch say a kookaburra pick up an item of food, raise its head and point its
beak upwards to juggle the item into the best orientation, then swallow.

Watch an Ibis foraging - like the Straw-necked ones in our local park, when
the lady who feeds galahs on her lawn adjoining the park, chases the Ibises
away from there. 

I assume an Ibis is not stabbing the turf just to strengthen its' neck
muscles.  Presumably it sometimes finds an item of food.  But it doesn't
lift its head.  Just keeps looking down - beak pointing down - as it locates
the next target.

So how does it get that item of food up that long beak to swallow it, while
the beak is pointing downwards?

Any anatomist out there with the answer?

TIA

Syd

Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU