Bird Foraging Behaviors - Page 1

All birds must employ foraging behaviors that let them do their best job possible of surviving. The basic principle has selected for a bewildering variety of foraging techniques over the entire bird world, with generalists often displaying a large number of behavior and specialists using very few. Generalists may not be particularly efficient at any single task but, being jack-of-all-trades, they can switch from one food to another as conditions change.

Bill shape and sizes --- and to some extent, feet, legs, and wings --- vary among species according to the foods the birds eat or the feeding methods they use. Imagine a cardinal, with a blunt bill, trying to probe deeply for earthworms in a forest floor; or a woodcock, with its long, slender bill, struggling to open a sunflower seed; or a Mallard attempting to glean insects from the furrowed bark of a maple tree. It is a picture of frustrated and hungry birds.