Beak or bill? This is a question I have asked myself
a number of times. It is something
that a lot of people use interchangeably.
However, there is a difference between the two.
Beak or Bill? They come in many different shapes and sizes (photos: Gay Schroer)
According to Oxford Dictionaries,
a beak is a bird's horny projecting jaws, or other animal such as a turtle or a
squid. A bill is the beak of a bird when
it is slender, flattened, weak (doesn't hurt when it bites you), or belongs to a web footed bird
or a bird of the pigeon family.
In other words, a bill is a type of beak, but not
all beaks are also bills. This is like all macaws are parrots, but
not all parrots are macaws.
Osiris the Egyptian Vulture (photo: Mike Cerutti)
Beaks and bills can come in a
large variety of shapes and sizes.
To me, the most impressive beak is that of a raptor--although, not all
raptor beaks are the same.
Some beaks can be longer and narrower, like
on Osiris, our Egyptian Vulture.
Reese the Great Horned Owl
(photo: Mike Cerutti
Other raptor beaks can be short and stout like on
Reese, our Great Horned Owl. This
is one of the things I love about raptor beaks, the variety in which they
come.
Nemo, an African Grey
Parrot (photo: Mike Cerutti)
Parrot beaks are hooked like
raptor beaks, but have a rasping edge on the inside of the top beak for filing
away the shells of nuts that are too tough to crack open.
A Northern Cardinal (photo:
Carmen Volante)
Many songbirds, like Cardinals,
have short stout beaks for breaking seeds open and killing insects.
When you visit the World Bird
Sanctuary, you will see a large variety of beaks and bills on our birds and
even our turtles!
Submitted by Mike Cerutti, World
Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/Trainer
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