Feet to Stand on

Left foot, Left foot
Right foot, Right.
Feet in the morning.
Feet at night.
Left foot, Left foot, 
Left foot, Right.
Wet foot, Dry foot.
High foot, Low foot.
               - Dr. Seuss, The Foot Book

Birds walk on two feet, just like humans. Some birds tend to hop rather than walk, but others can do even more, like paddle, cling or grab with their feet… things that our species can’t do. Searching through my backlog of photographs, I found a lot of variations in foot structure.

One thing birds have in common is that their feet are covered with heavily scaled skin stretched over tough tendons and bones. The feet of a grackle (above) are a good example. There’s always the exception, of course, like birds that have feathers on their legs and feet…

Most small songbirds (passerines) have small feet that are ideal for perching on branches or wires, as well as for hopping or walking around.

Here are some passerine feet, all of which have four toes, three pointing forward and one toe pointing backward.

When resting, the belly feathers of passerines cover their feet for warmth.

Birds often fall asleep on a perch and yet they don’t fall off! Flexor tendons in the legs and feet lock into place to prevent such accidents.

Passerines often use their feet for feeding, like this chickadee holding a sunflower seed with its foot and using its beak to crack it open.

Some passerines, like robins and thrashers, have perching-type feet but mostly forage on the ground…

Front feet, Back feet.
Red feet, Black feet.
Left foot, Right foot.
Feet, Feet, Feet.

Domestic fowl have long skinny toes, three facing front and one pointing back as in passerines. Their strong, sharp nails are for scratching at the ground while foraging. Here are the sturdy feet of a domestic turkey…

D

What about birds that swim in water?

All aquatic birds have webbed feet for paddling through water. That includes ducks and geese as well as gulls, cormorants, and pelicans. Here are the webbed feet of a White Pelican…

The pelican’s feet have webbing between all four toes. Mallards have webbing between three of the toes with a fourth toe located behind the webbing.

The feet of gulls are also webbed, as they are swimming birds as well as land birds. Their webbing resembles that of ducks…

Swimming birds normally have their legs and feet positioned at the rear of their bodies, which helps with propulsion through the water. When paddling, the toes of a webbed foot spread apart, allowing the webs to spread and push the water, thus propelling the duck ahead. Then, the toes come together and the webs fold up, getting ready for the next stroke.

Webbed feet are also useful for walking in wet mud or sand. These Mallard ducklings seem comfortable in or out of water…

Slow feet, Quick feet.
Trick feet, Sick feet.
Up feet, Down feet.
Here come clown feet.

American Coots are another sort of waterfowl but instead of webbing, they have a different foot design. Their unique “lobed” feet may look odd, but they enable the coot to navigate well on water or on land.

Wading Birds…

Marsh birds, such as herons, egrets and sandpipers, spend their days wading through shallow water. Rather than webbed feet, most of them have distinctively long, slender legs with matching long toes.

Note that this wading birds have three toes pointing forward and one pointing backwards.

As they walk slowly and effortlessly through water, sand, or mud, these specialized feet keep the birds from losing their balance.

Here are the colorful feet of a few other wading birds…

Birds that climb…

Returning to land birds, some of them, particularly woodpeckers, have feet designed for navigating up and down tree trunks and for clinging to vertical surfaces. They seem to defy gravity…

The arrangement of toes on a woodpecker’s differs from passerines and waders. Woodpeckers have two toes pointing forward and two pointing backward, helping them balance and cling vertically.

Birds that grasp…

Because raptors, like hawks and eagles, use their feet for catching prey, their toes form sharp, powerful claws or talons. The typical arrangement is three talons pointing forward and one talon pointing backward.

Owls and osprey have the ability to rotate one of their forward-pointing talons to the back, ensuring that the captured prey won’t get free. Holding the food in its powerful talons, the raptor can easily rip off pieces to eat with its beak.

Left foot. Right foot.
Feet. Feet. Feet.
Oh, how many
feet you meet!

And here’s another…

I am aware of only one bird — the Blue-footed Booby — that’s named for it’s feet. Admittedly, these webbed feet are rather unforgetable…

Leonardo da Vinci called the human foot “a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.” In my humble opinion, the feet of birds deserve equal or even higher “footing”!

Thanks for visiting!

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