In birds, the beak is the type of mouth that characterizes them, although other groups of animals also have it (such as platypuses and cephalopods), the beak of birds differs by its great variety of colors, shapes and functions that can be found in them. Anatomically, it is made up of an upper and a lower jaw, and the beak as such is a horny case (formed by keratin), the ranphotheca, which is what is observed externally and does not have teeth, although it may have a shape sawn reminiscent of them.
The beak performs various functions, since it is involved in feeding, defense, reproduction and thermoregulation, among others. In addition, the length of this structure can give indications of what kind of habits a bird has, since depending on its diet it can be shorter or longer. If you want to know, keep reading this article on our site about the long-billed birds
The beak of the birds
As we mentioned, the beak is formed by an upper jaw or maxilla and a lower jaw, as in the rest of vertebrates. As they do not have teeth, they generally have to swallow whole foods, without giving them much treatment, although some have characteristic serrated tooth-like beaks with which they open very large fruits, for instance. Due to the lack of teeth, their stomach is adapted and divided into a glandular stomach and a muscular stomach (the gizzard) that allows them to digest food well.
Beaks are characterized by a wide variety of sizes and shapes: some are brightly colored (toucans), others may have bumps that they resemble a horn (calaos), escutcheons or facial shields that cover part of the face (rooster), they can have skin at the base (pigeons), lamellae as teeth (ducks, geese) and the lengths and shapes vary according to the type of feeding that each species has.
Due to the great variety of bird beaks, we recommend you also read this other article on the Types of bird beaks.
Long beak in birds - What is it for?
Many species of birds have a long beak, especially those that have more specific feeding habits Those that stir mud, sand or flooded areas, for example beaches, having a beak of this type helps them not to have to get all their plumage wet and to be able to walk on these environments while looking for food while maintaining their field of vision on the surface. In addition, in many species the bill has a certain flexibility, which also allows them to bury themselves in the sand or mud in search of small vertebrates.
For other birds, such as storks, which have long legs, a long and strong beak that allows them to catch the fish they feed on. On the other hand, for species such as hummingbirds, having a long beak makes it easier for them to reach the nectar of some flowers that have elongated or bell-shaped corollas and that other birds cannot reach. And for certain species that have more arboreal habits, a long and sometimes curved beak helps them to insert it into holes in tree branches, or search through the Cortex. We will see all these characteristics below with examples of the birds that possess them.
Examples of birds with long beaks
Next, we will show some examples of birds with long beaks according to the order they belong to.
Long-billed birds of the order Charadriiformes
Among the Charadriiformes birds with long beaks, the following stand out:
- The Common Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta): Distributed throughout Asia, Africa and Europe, unmistakable by its unique long bill curved upwards. It feeds on small invertebrates while it "sweeps" areas with shallow water and also filters its food from the mud.
- Long-billed Seamstress (Limnodromus scolopaceus): This bird inhabits North America and Siberia, in the tundra. Its singular long beak helps it in the search for food, since these birds are waders and feed by wading over shallow water where the beak submerges.
- American Curlew (Numenius americanus): another shorebird inhabiting North America with a long curved beak with which it searches for food in sand or mud. This species has suffered a reduction in its populations due to the loss of its habitat and is currently classified as “Near Threatened”.
You may also be interested in this other article on Types of legs in birds.
Long-billed birds of the order Ciconiiformes
Within this group, the following stand out:
- Storks: These waterfowl have, in addition to their beaks, also long necks and legs that allow them to wade through flooded areas to search for their food. These birds are present in much of the world, they are found in Europe, Asia, Africa and in America only three species are present.
- Garzas: like storks, their thin and long beaks allow them to fish and thanks to their long legs they can feed on bodies of water without wetting their feathers. They are found on every continent except Antarctica.
Long-billed birds of the order Pelecaniformes
As for this type of bird with a long beak, the following stand out:
- Pelicanos: these birds are characterized by their long and strong beak ending in a hook, which also has a pouch or gular sac below their lower jaw that allows them to catch their prey when fishing and sometimes retain fresh water. They are present on almost all continents, with the exception of Antarctica.
- Ibis: Found in the southern hemisphere in warm and temperate zones, these species have long, downward-curving necks and beaks with that forage for food by probing flooded areas with water, sand, or on the ground.
Long-billed birds of the order Apodiformes
Within this type of bird, the hummingbird These birds, in addition to being so striking due to their small size and their flight, its thin and long beaks are very characteristic. Unique to the Neotropics, they feed on nectar from flowers and, because of this, some species have evolved alongside plant species, such as the Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) whose beak is so long that it is almost the only animal that pollinates the flowers of only a few plants. In addition, it is the species of bird with the longest beak in the world in relation to the total length of the body.
Long-billed birds of the order Passeriformes
Some of the long-billed birds of this order are:
- Picoguadañas, trepadores or picapalos (Campylorhamphus spp.): this genus is distributed throughout the Neotropics up to northern Argentina, and These are conspicuous and characteristic species whose beak is long and very curved, which they use to dig through the branches and hollows of the trees.
- Long-billed Woodcreeper (Nasica longirostris): This bird is native to the Amazon in South America, very characteristic for its long, straight beak that it uses as a pincer to look for insects among the bark of the trees and the leaf litter.
