Do raptors have a preferred foot?

[Andrew Taylor <>]

On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 04:05:50PM +1000, L&L Knight wrote:
> It is well known that parrots prefer to grasp objects in their left  
> feet.  I observed a Black Kite holding its food in its right foot and  
> wondered if raptors have a consistent preference as to which foot they  
> used for grasping objects.

Very likely, lateralization is known from a variety of birds and other
vertebrates - e.g the papers below are observations of lateralization
for tool use in New Caledonia Crows and prey delivery in Capian Terns.
http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/crows/files/lat-tooluse_AB.pdf
http://www.wfu.edu/~gracjk7/CATE Animal Behavior.pdf

And I gather in some parrot species including some Rosellas,
right-footers are in the majority and in others proportions are similar.

Andrew