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Showing posts with label TYPES OF BEAKS IN BIRDS - Theory and Practical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TYPES OF BEAKS IN BIRDS - Theory and Practical. Show all posts

Saturday, November 23, 2019

TYPES OF BEAKS IN BIRDS - Theory and Practical

               

TYPES OF BEAKS IN BIRDS

The presence of a beak or bill is the characteristics of the bird. Beak or Bill is an elongated upper and lower jaws.  Both the beak are covered by a horny sheath called rhamphotheca.
In bird, there are various kinds of beak modifications according to food and feeding habit of birds.
The following are some common types of beak modifications in birds.
1.                 Seed eating beak                            -           Sparrow, Pigeon
2.                 Cutting beak                                  -           Crow
3.                 Fruit eating beak                            -           Parrot, Hornbill
4.                 Fish catching beak                         -           Kingfisher, Cormorant
5.                 Insect catching beak                      -           Robin, Frogmouth
6.                 Wood chiseling beak                     -           Woodpecker
7.                 Piercing and tearing beak             -           Vulture, Eagle
8.                 Flower probing                             -           Hummingbird
9.                 Mud straining beak                      -           Duck, Flamingo
10.               Mud probing beak                          -           Stilt
11.               Spatulated beak                              -           Spoonbill
12.               Pouched beak                                 -           Pelican


1.  Seed eating beak 

1. The seed-eating beaks are weak short and stout.
2. The beak is conical peg-like and pointed at the tip.
3. These type of beak are found in small seed-eating or graminivorous birds.
Ex - sparrows finches, pigeon, etc

2. Cutting and biting beak.

1.                 The cutting beak and strong and powerful.
2.                 These type of beak has sharp cutting edges.
3.                 Such type of beak is used for various purposes.
4.                 Such beak is used for cutting food, to break eggshell, cutting the flesh, etc.
Ex. Crows.


3. Fruit eating beak.
 1.                  This type of beak is found in fruit-eating (Frugivorous) bird.
2.                 The fruit-eating beaks are large, sharp, powerful and hooked
3.                 The upper beak is movable on the skull and is well adapted for tearing fruits  
            and break open hard nuts and seeds.
4.                 In parrot upper beak is curved and pointed at the tip while the lower beak is                   short and with sharp cutting edges.
5.                 Upper the beak is used to hold support and the lower beak is used to scoop out              the fruit flesh.
6.                 In hornbill beak look like large and  heavy but internally these beaks are 
           internally cellular and light in weight.

        Ex. Parrot , Hornbill

4.   Piercing and tearing beak.


 
1.                 Piercing and tearing beak is found in carnivorous birds.
2.                 These types of the beak are very strong and powerful.
3.                 Upper beak is curved and pointed at the tip.
4.                 The margins of the beak are very sharp.
5.                 This type of beak is adapted for piercing and tearing flesh.

Ex. Vultures, Hawks, Eagles, Kites, and Owls

5.   Insectivorous beak.
1.                 The beak is long and slender found in an insectivorous bird.
2.                 Beak is adopted for turning leaves and probing into the soil in search of insect 
            larvae.
3.                 In swift, flycatcher and swallow beak is small and strong with notched 
            mandible at the tip modified to capture insects during flight.
4.                 In frogmouth bird soft feathers (Rectal bristles) are present at the base of the                 beak. On another hand, frogmouth bird kept its mouth open during flying.                    These modifications are for to trap insect during flight
Ex.- Swifts,  swallows , Flycatchers, hoopoe,  etc.

6.    Fish catching beak



1.                 The fish caching beak is long, strong and sharply pointed.
2.                 In case of kingfisher the edges of beak are very sharp.
3.                 In cormorant the margins of the beak are toothed or serrated
4.                 These modifications in these birds are  to prevent the escape of captured                        slippery prey like fish and to capture  frog, tadpoles, Mollusca and other                      aquatic animals

Ex. King fisher, Cormorant.

7.     Wood chiseling beak 
 
1.        The wood chiseling beaks are long , straight, stout and chisel- like and are strongly articulated with the skull
2.        The skull bones are also thick and shock  absorbent neck muscles are also strong
3.        This type of beak is used for chiseling and drilling into  bark or wood of trees  for the prey, e.g.
            insects and their larvae and for nest construction
4.        It is commonly found in woodpeckers.


8.        Mud probing beak.
 
1.                 This type of beaks are very long, slender and slightly curved to probe the 
            mud underwater in search of larvae and aquatic worms
2.                 These are commonly found in stilts, snipes, sandpipers, jacanas, lapwing. etc.

9.        Mud and water straining beak.


 
1.                 Both the beak are flat and broad.
2.                 In duck the gap is present between both the beak which is covered with 
           membranous Lamellae which act as sieve or filter to strain out mud and water.
3.                 Duck take mouthful of debris. The mud and water strain out through marginal 
           lamella leaving the food particle into the mouth.
4.                 In flaming upper beak is long and curved while lower beak is short and straight 
           leads to gap between two beak. This gap is covered by lamella through which 
           mud is strain out.
Ex. Ducks, teals, geese and flamingo.


10.      Flower probing beak
 
1.                 This type of beak is long narrow and pointed for probing the bottom of                           flowers  to take honey.
2.                 These beak is slender and slightly curved.
3.                 The shape of flower is adopted with the shape of flower.
4.                 These  birds fly in front of flower in mid-air for sucking the honey or nectar.

Ex- Sun bird, Humming bird.

11.Pouched beak
 1.        It is found in pelecans
2.        The lower beak shows presence of large gular pouch.
3.        The gular pouch is an extension of skin and attached to the mandibles for 
           storing engulfed fish.
Ex. Pelican

12.      Spatulate beak.

1.        It is  characteristics of spoon-bill
2.        Both the beak are long and flat terminated in a broad spatulate or spoon   
           like expansion.
3.        The spatulate expansion is used for dabbing in mud below water and in 
           search of fish ,tadpoles, worms , insects and other small aquatic animals.
           
Ex. Spoonbill 





Mouth Parts of Insects