Fits the bill
If you look at the different wading shorebirds that are on the Northumberland coast you’ll notice that there are all sorts of different bill types. Long, short, thick, thin, curved and straight.
Each one fits the job that it’s needed to do.
Ringed Plover
Type of bill: short
Birds: Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Lapwing
What it eats and how it eats:Takes food from the surface or very shallow surface probing. Uses stand-watch-run feeding technique.
Turnstone
Type of bill: Short and thick
Birds: Turnstone
What it eats and how it eats:Uses bill as an excavator through seaweed and stone for small invertebrates.
Redshank
Type of bill: Medium
Birds: Knot, Purple sandpiper, Dunlin, Redshank
What it eats and how it eats:Probing and surface picking for insects, crustaceans and worms.
Barred-tailed Godwit
Type of bill: Long, thin, straight
Birds: Barred-tailed godwit and black-tailed godwit.
What it eats and how it eats:Deep probing for worms and invertebrates.
Curlew
Type of bill: Long, thin, curved
Birds: Curlew, Whimbrel
What it eats and how it eats:Reaching under stones and deep probing, twisting for worms, shellfish and crustaceans. Feeding by touch.
Oystercatcher
Type of bill: Long, thick
Birds: Oystercatcher
What it eats and how it eats:Hammering shellfish, bill is protected by an armour of keratin (the same material in rhino horn!), also probing
You might also think that the bills are fixed and stiff, but the upper part of the bill is actually quite flexible. This helps the birds pick up food and it’s important for preening too.
Did you know that for most shorebirds the bill of the females are long and slimmer than the males, this helps to reduce direct competition for food between the males and females. The result being that the population as a whole can use a wider range of food.