9 Amazing Birds With Prolonged Beaks
Long-Billed Curlew
Longest shorebird in America. Long, curved bill probes for underwater life. It can also recognise and defend Great Plains crops from grasshoppers.
Roseate Spoonbill
Florida, Texas, and Louisiana have roseate spoonbills. Waders migrate in tiny flocks. Spoonbills filter muck with their wide, flat bills in shallow water.
Shoebill
Shoebills are sometimes dubbed whalehead storks because of their shoe-shaped bills. It looks like a stork, but it's related to pelicans and other four-toed birds.
Lesser Flamingos
Their bills are adapted to eat microscopic planktonic creatures in water. The angular design helps filter water over their tongue and down their long neck.
Great Hornbill
They're a brightly coloured bird with a preen gland that secretes tinted oil when groomed. Males use the huge casque on their beak to fight and lure ladies.
Keel-Billed Toucan
The Keel-Billed Toucan is a world-famous bird. In South and Central America, they eat mostly fruit, but also insects, reptiles, other birds, and eggs.
Sword-Billed Hummingbird
The Sword-Billed Hummingbird has the greatest body-to-beak ratio of any bird. Their long bill and tongue let them eat long-corollaed blooms.
Eurasian Whimbrel
Long, delicate beak of Whimbrel. Year-round, they live in tundra, mudflats, beaches, and saltmarshes. Their large bills dig out crabs and other aquatic animals.
Goliath Heron
World's largest heron is Goliath. It prefers waterways to land. It hunts in shallow water but has been sighted over deep vegetation.