Bird beaks are shaped based on the food they eat. Robins have beaks shaped for digging in soil and grass for worms. Sparrows have short, pointed beaks for picking up and grinding seeds. Woodpeckers have strong, pointed beaks for drilling into trees to find insects hidden in bark. Ducks have flat, broad bills for scooping up water plants and gripping food without it slipping off.

1. Bird beaks
are adapted to
the food the bird eats.
by Moira Whitehouse PhD

2. The
shape of
the bird’s
beak
depends
on what
it eats.

3. Robins primarily
eat worms buried in
the soil or grass.
Their beaks are
shaped to allow
it to dig in the
grass and pick
up worms

4. Sparrows primarily
eat seeds.
Their short, pointed,
but powerful beaks
are adapted to pick
up and grind small
seeds.

5. A woodpecker It has strong, pointed beak that
mainly eat insects it uses to drill into bark to find
in the bark of insects. It has a very long
trees. tonguewith a glue-like
substance on the tip for
catching the insects.

6. A kind of shallow water
duck feeds along the
surface of the water or
tips headfirst into the
water to graze on plants
that live in the water.
They also forage on land
for seeds and insects.
These ducks have flat,
broad bills that scoop
up water plants. Their
bill has rows of notches
to help the duck grip its
food so that it does not
slip off.

7. The hummingbird has a long pointed beak
which he uses like a straw to suck nectar out
of a flower.

8. Birds of prey use their strong curved beaks to
catch their prey and tear it apart.

9. Birds do not have teeth.
However, they do have beaks that allow
them to get food and/or to tear it up, crack it
open or grind it up.
Since all birds do not eat the same kind of
food, each species has a special beak that is
adapted to getting and eating the kind of
food they most often eat.