How do webbed feet help birds move in water?


Did you ever swim wearing flippers? If so, you know that they help you swim faster. Flippers are like the webbed feet of ducks, geese, and swans. Webbed feet are like paddles. They push lots of water, so the bird can move faster.



Ducks, geese, and swans are all waterfowl. They spend most of their time in lakes, ponds, rivers, or the sea.



Different kinds of waterfowl have different ways of getting their food. Some kinds of ducks, such as mallards, wigeons, and teals, are known as dabbling ducks. To get food - water insects, snails, and water plants - a dabbling duck puts its head underwater. Its feet and tail stick straight up in the air. Swans feed this way too, but they eat mostly plants.



Ducks such as pochards, canvasbacks, and grebes are known as diving ducks. They dive underwater and eat mostly water plants.



Geese usually feed on land. They like grass, seeds, and plants. Their bills can clip off the tops of plants as neatly as a pair of scissors.



Colourful mandarin ducks often perch in trees when they aren’t swimming.



Picture Credit : Google


What are the various types of birds' feet?


Would you be able to grasp a tree branch with your toes and then fall asleep, without falling? No, because your feet are not made for living in trees.



Birds have feet that suit their way of life. Birds that perch on branches have toes that curl around the branch to give a tight grip. The grip is so tight that the bird doesn’t fall off even when it sleeps.



Birds that find their food in the ground have short, blunt toes like tiny rakes. They scratch the ground to turn up insects and seeds. Ducks, geese, and swans have feet like paddles to help them swim in water. Birds of prey, which eat small animals, have sharp, curved claws - just right for grabbing the creatures they hunt.



Climbing birds, like parrots and woodpeckers, have two toes pointing forwards and two toes pointing backwards. Cassowaries and most other fast-running birds have three toes on each foot.



Picture Credit : Google


How do baby bird learn how to fly?



A baby swift is getting ready to fly. Ever since it hatched, its feathers have been getting longer. Its wings have been growing stronger. Now, the little bird is ready.



It hops to the edge of the nest. Even though it has never flown, the swift knows just what to do. It spreads its wings and pushes itself off the nest with its legs. Air pushes up on the swift’s wings and holds the little bird up. The swift begins to flap its wings. Feathers on the ends of the wings spread out and twist. This pulls air under each wing and pulls the swift forwards.



Now the little swift is tired. It lands by spreading out its wings and tail as a brake. Many birds can fly the very first time they try. Some birds, such as sparrows, need a little practice. They flutter weakly out of the nest. Before they can really fly, they hop about on the ground, flapping their wings for a few days.



Picture Credit : Google


What is murmuration of birds?



The dark dance in the sky



You may have seen videos of dark and fluid patterns formed by large flocks of birds moving together across the sky. This is called murmuration, and is usually caused by starlings. In fact, the collective noun for starlings is murmuration.



Why do they do it?



One of the most common theories is that the birds find safety in numbers when they migrate (locally or otherwise). When these birds take to the skies in such large numbers, they are bound to tempt raptors (birds of prey) looking for a filling meal. However, no bird obviously wants to be the raptors target! So, “swirling masses create a confusion effect preventing a single individual being targeted”. This is called collective escape. During the escape, they exhibit a variety of patterns and structural complexity through “rapid variation in density and shape of the flock”. Depending on the position and the movement of individuals relative to each other, the types of escape have been classified as ‘flash expansion’, ‘blackening’, ‘wave event’, ‘vacuole’, ‘cordon’ and ‘split. A study says “the specific type of collective escape depends on the collective pattern that precedes it and on the level of threat posed by the raptor. A wave event was most likely to occur when the predator attacked at medium speed”, for instance.



So how do they do it?



The number of starlings in a flock can range from hundreds to thousands. While flying in such a large group – don’t forget all that din – how do the birds communicate to each other what each must do? Now this part is as brilliant as the murmuration itself! Research has established that “individual starlings within large flocks respond to a fixed number of nearest neighbours”. The birds pay attention to their seven closet neighbours for their course of action. A study has established that “when uncertainty in sensing is present, interacting with six or seven neighbors optimizes the balance between group cohesiveness and individual effort”. If that’s not smart team work, what is?



 



Picture Credit : Google