Dean,
You're comment below is interesting as I would say that in my experience many
honeyeaters can break the skin. Those that I know from personal experinec that
can draw blood include:
Noisy Friarbird
Little Friarbird
Red Wattlebird
Noisy Miner
Bell Miner (and they come in big numbers)
Yellow-throated Miner
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
Blue-faced Honeyeater
White-eared Honeyeater (rarely)
White-plumed Honeyeater (yes, even something this small can occassionally break
the skin)
Many a winter trip to central NSW has been followed with complaints (and sore
hands) from banding large numbers of 'piano-playing' honeyeaters.
Surprisingly (at least to me) I have never had a treecreeper even grip my hands
with their seemingly long and strong claws.
Cheers,
Peter> From: > To: ;
> Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 01:14:21 +1000> Subject:
[Birding-Aus] Re: Birds' feet> > > > Hi Sonja,> > The term talon is usually
restricted to birds that use their feet to subdue or kill large prey or are
relatives of species that do and have retained the same foot morphology
(typically owls and 'diurnal' birds of prey). For other birds these are usually
referred to as claws. The damage that talons can produce comes mainly from the
strong tendons controlling movement of the toes. Anyone who has handled large
honeyeaters can attest to the sharpness of their claws, but they don't have the
force to break the skin. Other birds have sharp claws used for gripping or
climbing, for e.g. treecreepers.> Anatomically a claw consists of a bone
covered in a keratin sheath. There is a blood supply internally to nourish the
keratin as it grows (like fingernails the keratin grows outwards from the body,
it is dead tissue at maturity). This is why trimming bird's claws can result in
considerable bleeding if cut anterior to the end of the 'quick'. The sheath
continually wears and is replenished by new inner layers. This is also true of
the keratinous sheath covering the bill (termed the rhamphotheca).> With
regards to the Gang-gang with the deformed claw. It should be perfectly fine.
It is not unusual to see wild birds lacking a claw or two. For example, several
newly caught babblers (i.e. not previously captured) that I work on have had a
missing claw, either broken at the base or absent and have a stubby toe. No
doubt this is painful when the injury occurs but birds are able to adapt to the
slight disability, including wild parrots which I have also seen several with a
missing a claw apparently with no ill-effect. So the gang-gang should be fine.>
> Cheers, Dean> > > > > Date: > Wed, 28 May 2008 20:15:00 +1000> > > > > I am
processing some images of Gang-gang Cockatoos taken today, and while checking
sharpness, have noticed that one of the talons (is that correct, by the way as
all the books seem to just cover feathers) is broken. It seems to taper in from
the edges to form a hole. It made me wonder if this would adversely affect the
bird - altering it's grip for example or causing pain like dental caries, or
just be like a broken finger nail, and are they hollow, like cow horns? Can
anyone enlighten me please? Sonja Ross> >
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