11 December 07
Bird Feet
One of the great things about studying bird anatomy is that you get a sense of what is, and isn’t, possible anatomically by a bird. Jack did some great demonstrations for us on Sunday, which he called the “Hallmark errors” — anatomic impossibilities often found on greeting cards. (The early Disney singing bluebirds are a classic example of this: mouth open wide, both parts of the bill making a moving vee as the bird sings away, tweet tweet tweet. Only the bottom mandible of most birds can move; exceptions are parrots and other birds that need to exert extreme force to feed).
Another Hallmark error is the foot-death-grip. Notice the arrangement of foot (in reality, toe) bones in the drawing at left. Outside toe, four bones, best for contouring around a branch. Middle toe, three; inside toe, two; rear toe, one.
One bone, only, in the rear. It can’t bend. Around. Anything. The claw will help it cling for dear life in a hefty wind, but the toe itself is condemned to sitting straight out.
Many thanks to Jack for allowing me to post these drawings of his.
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