{"id":20029,"date":"2013-11-17T06:13:43","date_gmt":"2013-11-17T13:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=20029"},"modified":"2013-11-17T06:13:43","modified_gmt":"2013-11-17T13:13:43","slug":"black-crowned-night-heron-tongue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/17\/black-crowned-night-heron-tongue\/","title":{"rendered":"Black-crowned Night Heron Tongue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Black-crowned Night Heron is the most widespread heron in the world.\u00a0 They are opportunistic feeders that feed on a wide variety of prey and I’ve seen them swallow some amazingly large prey items.\u00a0 I suspect that their rather interesting-looking tongue plays a significant role in\u00a0their success.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"black-crowned<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a01\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This heron (there’s an insect on its wing)\u00a0let me\u00a0 get relatively close and eventually\u00a0gave me an enthusiastic yawn that revealed its bi-colored, knobby looking tongue.\u00a0 I’ve seen these birds swallow fish that were seemingly large enough to “choke a horse” and the interesting anatomy of its tongue\u00a0may\u00a0contribute to that ability.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"black-crowned<\/a><\/p>\n

A\u00a0heavy crop gives a somewhat\u00a0better look.\u00a0 The front, darker colored\u00a0part of the tongue fits perfectly into the groove of the lower mandible and seems to have a slight knob at the tip.\u00a0 The more proximal third of the tongue is much lighter colored and seems to be separated from the front portion of the organ by a noticeable groove.\u00a0 And then there’s those protuberances (for lack of a better term) at top, also bicolored, that I suspect may be able to be raised during the swallowing process to help force food down the throat (I’m only guessing on that one).<\/p>\n

I spent some time attempting to research the anatomy and function of their rather unique-looking tongue but came up mostly\u00a0empty.\u00a0\u00a0I wish I knew more…<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Black-crowned Night Heron is the most widespread heron in the world. They are opportunistic feeders that feed on a wide variety of prey and I’ve seen them swallow some amazingly large prey items. I suspect that their rather interesting-looking tongue plays a significant role in their success.<\/p>\n

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