Photo by Mark Olsen[/caption] The most common shape for typical seed-eating birds is a short, thick, and conical beak. Think of the classic "triangle" shape. This strong, sturdy beak acts like a ...

Under these drastically changing conditions, the struggle to survive favored the larger birds with deep, strong beaks for opening the hard seeds. Smaller finches with less-powerful beaks perished.

When birds feed on nectar from flowers, they do more than just get a meal—they play a crucial role in pollination, transferring pollen from one flower to another. But how well do the shapes of their ...

In the avian world, birds showcase an incredible diversity of beaks—some enormous, others unusually long, and some even lethal. All hornbill species have a unique structure called a casque on ...

I spotted this rook with a very unusual beak in Galway city lately. Despite the unusual shape it seemed very healthy and was ...

The bird’s beak shape, jaw musculature and hind limbs suggest it was highly specialised for diving in pursuit of fish. “It would probably be easily mistaken for modern grebes or loons ...

(Artwork by Mark Witton) (CN) — A bird from the late Cretaceous period, which resembles something of a buck-toothed toucan with a large scythe-like beak, has provided scientists new insights into the ...

In particular, changes to the size and shape of the beaks have enabled the different species to specialise in different types of food: seeds, insects, cactus flowers and fruits or even bird blood. The ...