Toolbox of beaks

Sparrowhawks tear meat with their sharp hooked beaks

The shape of a bird's beak tells you what it eats. A sparrow crushes seeds with its short thick beak; a robin catches insects with its short thin beak; a snipe probes for worms with its long straight beak; and a sparrowhawk tears meat with its sharp hooked beak. Some birds' beaks have weird adaptations to suit their diets. Here are just few:

Tweezer tips

A crossbill feeds on the seeds of pine trees, hidden deep inside pinecones. Its name comes from the fact that its beak crosses over at the tip. It uses these ends of its beak to prise out the seeds, just like a pair of tweezers.

Getting a grip

The goosander belongs to a family of ducks called sawbills, which feed on fish. The edges of its beak have fine serrations, like a saw. This helps them to cling onto their slippery, wriggling catch.

Sword of nectar

The sword-billed hummingbird, from Ecuador, has a bill longer than its entire body. It uses it to probe deep into flowers for nectar, as it hovers beside them.

Taking the strain

Flamingos eat tiny plankton and their beaks have a special lining that filters the plankton from the water – like a sieve. They first take in a beakful of water, then pump it out again with their tongue to leave the tiny food trapped inside.

Skimming the surface

The skimmer is a tropical water bird and the lower half of its beak is larger than the upper half. It flies low over the water, trailing the bottom half of its beak along the surface. As soon as it feels a fish, it flips it up and swallows it.