A ditto thanks to Dennis.
Wings,
jan
Jan Stewart
922 E. Spruce Street
Sequim, WA 98382-3518
(360) 681-2827
jstewart at olympus.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Tweeters <
tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of
dgrainger at birdsbydave.com
Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2020 10:09 AM
To: Dennis Paulson <
dennispaulson at comcast.net>
Cc: Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] A question about probing shorebirds such as Marbled Godwit
Wow! Thanks Dennis! Very good explanation, I have wondered about this as I have been photographing over here in Port Townsend area. Much appreciated!
On 2020-10-04 10:02, Dennis Paulson wrote:
>
Dave,
>
>
Many, perhaps all, sandpipers have touch-sensitive bills. You can
>
actually see tiny sensory pits along the bill tip, and under them are
>
Herbst corpuscles, which furnish that sensitivity. Look up "sandpiper
>
sense of touch" online. Presumably this sense functions only when a
>
potential prey item moves or when it is clearly distinct from the
>
substrate. These pits are very prominent on the bills of birds such as
>
dowitchers and snipes, quite evident in the skeleton when the
>
rhamphotheca is removed, but I don't recall seeing them on godwit
>
bills. It should be easy to find them by looking at study skins (in
>
lieu of a live or dead bird in the hand), and maybe someone who has
>
access to specimens (because of Covid-19, I can't go to the Slater
>
Museum) can check this.
>
>
Dennis Paulson
>
Seattle
>
>>
On Oct 4, 2020, at 9:37 AM, dgrainger at birdsbydave.com wrote:
>>
>>
Over the last few weeks I have watched and photographed Marbled
>>
Godwits working the sandy edge of Quimper Bay / Port Townsend,
>>
probing with their long recurved bills, plunging into the wet sand at
>>
water's edge. What I am curious about, having seen them come up with
>>
food fairly frequently.
>>
>>
My question is: how do these feeders sense that they have located
>>
something edible? I thought that it could be touch, feeling a
>>
different density of an object, or perhaps even taste or smell.
>>
>>
Those Godwits were quick about their repeated probing plunges,
>>
jamming those bills several inches into the sand just as the receding
>>
water kept the spot wettest. Quimper Bay is usually very calm water:
>>
the edge where I was watching had just little ripples reaching shore.
>>
Time was on rising tide, about 3/4 in.
>>
>>
I asked the Near Universe, Dr Google, but found nothing about it.
>>
Anybody out there that can educate me?
>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
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