Downy woodpecker Northern cardinal Blue jay Barred Owl Black-capped chickadee Click to Enlarge   Beaks Formed for Feeding by Bonnie Chasteen, photos by Jim Rathert What’s your favorite food? Pizza? Burgers? Carrot sticks? Next time you’re eating a snack, take a moment to notice how perfectly your mouth is formed for sipping, biting, tasting and chewing. All animals (including us humans) have mouths that are adapted to help catch or process their preferred food. This is especially true of birds and their beaks. Unlike lips—which are made of muscle and skin, or teeth—which are made of enamel, a beak is actually a part of the bird’s skull that is covered with a tough layer of skin. Imagine having lips tough enough to crack seeds, dig up worms or chip away wood! To learn more about how a beak helps a bird make its living, set up a birdfeeder outside your window. Winter is a great time to attract birds and learn their habits. One of the first birds you’ll notice at your feeder is the bright red cardinal. Check out that stout, cone-shaped beak. Can you guess what it likes to eat? If you said “seeds,” you’re right on the money. The cardinal’s vise-like beak is perfect for cracking hard-shelled sunflower seeds. Another common visitor to winter bird feeders is the clownish black-capped chickadee. Its beak is smaller than the cardinal’s, but it is also cone-shaped, so you know what that means—the chickadee is a seed-eater. Its beak is also good for digging or prying for insects and spiders. If you put out suet or a peanut butter cone at your feeder, you’re pretty sure to attract the downy woodpecker. Its slim, chisel-like beak is good for picking insects out of bark or digging fat out of crevices. Blue jays have long, sharp, slightly curved beaks, and they’re able to eat just about anything. Known to dominate birdfeeders, they will chase away other birds, gather up several seeds, then they fly off to stash them in a tree or in the ground. They will also eat acorns and fruits, as well as eggs, young birds, dead animals and insects. If there aren’t many trees, shrubs or other plants in your yard where birds can take cover while they’re feeding, you may see an owl or a hawk. These birds have sharply curved beaks, and that marks them as meat-eaters. Hawks will often snatch smaller birds gathering around a feeder. Hawks and owls may eat a few birds, but they also keep smaller birds, rodents and reptiles from overcrowding their habitat and eating themselves out of house and home. Regardless of where you see birds eating, taking note of their beaks will help you understand why they eat what they do and what kinds of habitat they depend on for their survival. Keeping your birdfeeder stocked, especially in winter, will make learning about birds exciting and fun. Black-oil sunflower seed White millet Niger thistle Set up a feeding station Your birdfeeding station may be as simple or as complicated as you like. You can scatter seeds on the ground or on a raised platform, put up a homemade feeder or hang store-bought feeders. Providing a variety of seeds and feeds is the key to attracting a variety of birds. A mix of black-oil sunflower seeds (not the more familiar striped ones), white millet and niger thistle will appeal to birds with cone-shaped beaks: cardinals, sparrows, juncos and goldfinches. Perch-feeding birds will naturally scatter the seeds, where ground-feeding birds—such as doves, dark-eyed juncos and white-crowned sparrows—will gather to eat. Regardless of what kind of food you provide, make sure to put the feeding station near a window where you can enjoy watching and learning. Providing fresh water during winter is another sure way of attracting birds to your yard. You can fill up your summer bird bath, or just put some water in a shallow basin on the ground. The birds will really appreciate it! Make a Birdseed Cone Ingredients: A few pine cones 3/4 cup chunky peanut butter 1/2 cup regular oatmeal, raw 1/2 cup black-oil sunflower seeds In a mixing bowl, stir the peanut butter, oatmeal and sunflower seeds until well mixed. Stuff the mixture into the spaces between the cones’ scales, and hang the stuffed cones in a tree near your feeding station. Sneak a Peek at more Beaks Click to enlarge Northern bobwhite quail—The short, stout bill is used to pick food off the ground or from plants. Bobwhite quail eat lots of seeds, insects, fruits and vegetation. They may gobble up thousands of insects and tens of thousands of seeds in one day. Greater roadrunner—The long, strong, slender bill is used to capture fast-moving prey such as rats, mice, lizards and snakes. The bill’s length may keep some of the more dangerous prey away from the roadrunner’s body, helping it avoid stings, injuries or snake bites. Roadrunners also eat insects, fruits, frogs and birds—including hummingbirds. Roadrunners have been known to wait patiently below a hummingbird feeder, then leap up to catch a hummer in its bill. Great blue heron—This big wading bird uses its long, stout bill like a pair of tongs to grab fish, frogs, mice, birds and other animals. If a prey animal is too large, the heron will swallow it as far as possible and wait for digestion to do its work—then swallow what’s left. Tree swallow—Able to gape open during flight, the tree swallow’s tiny bill is designed to “funnel” flying insects into the bird’s wide mouth. Facial bristles surrounding the bill may also help direct insects into the mouth. Tree swallows forage for flying insects such as beetles, ants, flies, bees and grasshoppers. They also stand on beaches and pick small insects and crustaceans off the sand. In fall and winter they eat seeds from bulrushes, sedges and smartweeds, as well as some fruits. American white pelican—Basically a fishnet on the pelican’s face, the bill holds the soft throat or gular tissue that stretches to become a pouch when the bird is “fishing.” When pelicans scoop up large quantities of water and small fish, the water trapped in the pouch slowly drains, leaving the fish for the bird to eat. Carolina wren—The sharp-pointed, slightly down-curved bill of the Carolina wren is used to probe for hiding insects and spiders in bark, leaves and root tangles along streams and around buildings. Carolina wrens also consume small fruits, lizards and tree frogs. Unable to remove seeds from their hulls, Carolina wrens will visit winter bird feeders searching for nutmeats or for hulled sunflower and peanut hearts. Free Backyard Bird Booklets Feeding Backyard Birds Featuring color illustrations of 34 bird species commonly found in Missouri, this booklet includes details about how and where to set up feeding stations, what feeds to use and how to use native plants to attract birds to your yard. Woodworking for Wildlife Are you handy at working with wood? You can use your skills to help bring wildlife to your yard. The plans in this booklet include bird feeders, many different birdhouses, a squirrel den and a bat house. You can access this publication online at www.missouriconservation.org/nathis/woodwork/ or mail in your order. Enjoying Missouri’s Birds: Where to see birds and when This 40-page booklet includes black and white illustrations and color graphs that help you find out when and where to watch hundreds of species of birds in Missouri. To order these publications, write to: Missouri Department of Conservation, Distribution Center, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-1080.