Saturday, September 8, 2007

Sword-billed humming bird


Birds have to clean their feathers daily b'coz they depend on them in the air. They will almost always try to have a bath everydayto clean their feathers & then comb themselves with the beak so thatany separated filaments can get zipped back together. But the sword-billed humming bird (Ensifera ensifera) of South America has a beak longer than its body (3" long) & so is forced to preen itself not with its beak but with one foot while balancing with the other. So it has not only a long beak but also disproportionately long legs. But its extraordinarily long beak has enabled it to reach the nectar way below in the depths of the deep trumpet shaped flowers of the Datura plant, which no other member of its family has been able to do.

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