Hoopoe party trick
I was never any good at catching things in my mouth yet this Hoopoe did it all the time. But if you think about it this is the only way it can get a morsel from its bill tip into its gullet. If I had, say, a peanut in my lips, I could manoeuvre them until it was on my tongue, which would then manoeuvre it to my teeth to be chewed and swallowed. But birds' mouths are very different. This Hoopoe was picking up insects (in this case a small larva) by the very tip of its forceps-like bill that it had extracted from paving cracks. But it doesn't have lips to manoeuvre it backwards, and its tongue is hard and far less flexible than ours. Moreover, it doesn't have teeth to chew its food, so maceration of food takes place in its gizzard ( a muscular organ near the start of the digestive tract). Birds that eat hard food like seeds eat grit which they retain in their gizzard to help grind up the food. This Hoopoe was frequently tossing food from its bill tip into its gullet and here's one I managed to capture of it in the act. I photographed this Hoopoe in the village of Collingham on Wednesday and it is still there today. They are scarce visitors to Britain that breed here very occasionally.
Hoopoe party trick
I was never any good at catching things in my mouth yet this Hoopoe did it all the time. But if you think about it this is the only way it can get a morsel from its bill tip into its gullet. If I had, say, a peanut in my lips, I could manoeuvre them until it was on my tongue, which would then manoeuvre it to my teeth to be chewed and swallowed. But birds' mouths are very different. This Hoopoe was picking up insects (in this case a small larva) by the very tip of its forceps-like bill that it had extracted from paving cracks. But it doesn't have lips to manoeuvre it backwards, and its tongue is hard and far less flexible than ours. Moreover, it doesn't have teeth to chew its food, so maceration of food takes place in its gizzard ( a muscular organ near the start of the digestive tract). Birds that eat hard food like seeds eat grit which they retain in their gizzard to help grind up the food. This Hoopoe was frequently tossing food from its bill tip into its gullet and here's one I managed to capture of it in the act. I photographed this Hoopoe in the village of Collingham on Wednesday and it is still there today. They are scarce visitors to Britain that breed here very occasionally.