MIT Professor John Bush says shorebirds relying on this method of feeding may be more vulnerable to oil spills.
A particular type of shorebird (Phalarope) exploits the physical properties of water to transport water droplets to its mouth and feed on the tiny creatures contained within, researchers say.
Because of the shape of its beak, the bird cannot suck the water all the way up to its mouth. What it does instead is quickly open and close its beak many times like a pair of tweezers, and the water actually moves up the long beak — against the pull of gravity — and all the way to the phalarope's mouth.
This action is made possible because of something called "surface tension." It is the first time that scientists have documented this particular way of eating.
Source:
Video courtesy of Don DesJardin. Still images courtesy of Rainey Shuler, Matthew Studebaker/www.studebakerbirds.com, Robert Lewis. Audio excerpt from the weekly podcast of the journal Science.
