The Foraging Strategies of Birds

Question 1

Specialised Bills

Answer 1

Question 2

Specialised Feet

Answer 2

Question 3

Specialised Crops

Answer 3

Question 4

Specialised Behaviour

Answer 4

• Successful foraging involves specialist
machinery AND specialised behaviour
patterns
• Development of both allows birds to use
niches exclusively & minimises
competition with other species

Question 5

Skimming

Answer 5

Skimming by
skimmers
(Rynchops spp.)
• Detects prey
through touch

• Upper mandible snaps
shut when fish
detected
• Instantaneous
response

Question 6

Ambush

Answer 6

Used by many birds of prey

Question 7

Pursuit

Answer 7

• Sawbill
(Mergus spp.)
ducks pursue
fish under
water
• Serrated edges
of bill allow
slippery fish to
be caught

Question 8

Plunge-diving

Answer 8

Foraging
technique for
all of the
Pelecaniformes

Question 9

Hooding

Answer 9

Hunting technique of Ciconiiformes

Question 10

Ossuary

Answer 10

Easily the most metal form of hunting out there

Flat rock that is
used to fragment
bones
• This
Lammergeier or
Bearded Vulture
(Gypaetus
barbatus) drops
whole skeletons
• Eighty five per
cent of its diet is
bone