{"id":50385,"date":"2017-08-02T04:41:03","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T10:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=50385"},"modified":"2017-08-02T07:10:42","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T13:10:42","slug":"why-the-killdeer-doesnt-perch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/02\/why-the-killdeer-doesnt-perch-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why The Killdeer Doesn&#8217;t Perch"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><em>Occasionally I rerun\u00a0a favorite\u00a0older post because many current blog followers have never seen it. This one was published on January 30, 2013. I&#8217;ve rewritten some of the text and\u00a0edited the formatting.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>More than half of all bird species (5000+)\u00a0are classified in order Passeriformes and referred to as passerines. Passerines, sometimes known as perching birds or less accurately as songbirds, have four toes \u2013 three of them directed forward and one toe directed back. This arrangement allows\u00a0for stable perching on structures such as small branches, herbaceous stems and wires\u00a0because the hind toe is opposable to the others (much like our thumbs are opposable\u00a0to our fingers) which allows \u201cgrasping\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the tendon\/bone anatomy of passerines and some other birds causes automatic\u00a0closing of the foot (grasping) when the leg bends \u2013 such as when it lands on a\u00a0typical perch. This arrangement also allows them to sleep on a perch without falling off and is responsible for the talon locking mechanism of raptors.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>This information has practical application for me because of my track record of rescuing raptors in distress. It hasn&#8217;t happened yet but if I ever get &#8220;footed&#8221; by a raptor during the rescue process I know\u00a0to follow the advice of blog follower and wildlife rehabber Mikal Deese: :\u00a0&#8220;Remember that talon locking mechanism. Take a breath, stay calm, and straighten the (bird&#8217;s)\u00a0leg before you try to peel the toes off of you\u00a0one by one.&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12058\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/30\/why-the-killdeer-doesnt-perch\/savannah-sparrow-2259-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/savannah-sparrow-2259-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1345278941&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0003125&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"savannah sparrow 2259 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/savannah-sparrow-2259-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12058\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/savannah-sparrow-2259-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/savannah-sparrow-2259-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/savannah-sparrow-2259-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/savannah-sparrow-2259-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/savannah-sparrow-2259-ron-dudley-400x285.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here we see the typical \u201cthree toes forward, one toe back\u201d arrangement on this Savannah Sparrow\u00a0that allows passerines\u00a0to grasp\u00a0narrow perches like small\u00a0branches or wires and remain stable on them. Animals without something like this toe arrangement would be \u201cwalking a tightrope\u201d but these birds have no problem with it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12055\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/30\/why-the-killdeer-doesnt-perch\/loggerhead-shrike-8949-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-8949-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,677\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;6.3&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1278142118&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"loggerhead shrike 8949 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-8949-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12055\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-8949-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"677\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-8949-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-8949-ron-dudley-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-8949-ron-dudley-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-8949-ron-dudley-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/>Maintaining stability on a perch such as this would be virtually impossible without the ability to grasp, particularly in a breeze. Even with the ability to grasp this Loggerhead Shrike had some difficulty establishing and maintaining stability on the dried stem.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12057\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/30\/why-the-killdeer-doesnt-perch\/white-crowned-sparrow-8376-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/white-crowned-sparrow-8376-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;6.3&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1317202741&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"white crowned sparrow 8376 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/white-crowned-sparrow-8376-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12057\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/white-crowned-sparrow-8376-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/white-crowned-sparrow-8376-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/white-crowned-sparrow-8376-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/white-crowned-sparrow-8376-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/white-crowned-sparrow-8376-ron-dudley-400x285.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This shot of a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow gives us a better look at all four toes including the opposable rear toe.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12056\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/30\/why-the-killdeer-doesnt-perch\/western-meadowlark-5815-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/western-meadowlark-5815-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"656,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;7.1&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1274337893&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0015625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"western meadowlark 5815 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/western-meadowlark-5815-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12056\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/western-meadowlark-5815-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"656\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/western-meadowlark-5815-ron-dudley.jpg 656w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/western-meadowlark-5815-ron-dudley-218x300.jpg 218w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/western-meadowlark-5815-ron-dudley-109x150.jpg 109w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/western-meadowlark-5815-ron-dudley-400x548.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 656px) 100vw, 656px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a rear view of the opposable\u00a0hind toes, this time on a Western Meadowlark.<\/p>\n<p>Ok, now to my point. Many birds that do not typically\u00a0\u201cperch\u201d (with exceptions) are waterfowl and shorebirds. The Killdeer is a plover but because of the habitats it prefers it\u2019s often found with passerines and many of us associate them with the perching birds. But think about it, have you ever seen a Killdeer perched in a tree, on a branch, narrow stem or wire? I don\u2019t think I have and I\u2019ve spent a lot of time with them over the years.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12053\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/30\/why-the-killdeer-doesnt-perch\/killdeer-1509-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-1509-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,689\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;7.1&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1334304978&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0004&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"killdeer 1509 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-1509-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12053\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-1509-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"689\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-1509-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-1509-ron-dudley-300x229.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-1509-ron-dudley-150x114.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-1509-ron-dudley-400x306.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And here\u2019s why.\u00a0Like most plovers, Killdeer lack the hind toe so they rarely perch, except on something like a relatively flat\u00a0rock where grasping isn&#8217;t required. Because of their toe arrangement they simply\u00a0do not have the ability to grasp a narrow perch for stability.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12054\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/30\/why-the-killdeer-doesnt-perch\/killdeer-2549-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-2549-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,631\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;7.1&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 7D&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1309598306&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"killdeer 2549 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-2549-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12054\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-2549-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"631\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-2549-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-2549-ron-dudley-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-2549-ron-dudley-150x105.jpg 150w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-2549-ron-dudley-400x280.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Another view of &#8220;the toe that isn\u2019t there\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This may be\u00a0elementary information for most folks who are well-schooled in birds but I remember when I finally realized that I\u2019d never seen a Killdeer perched and\u00a0eventually figured out why.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps there are others in the same boat as I was\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I remember when I finally realized that I\u2019d never seen a Killdeer perched and eventually figured out why.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/02\/why-the-killdeer-doesnt-perch-2\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,334,1199,395],"tags":[697,3478,696,3477,3479,3476],"class_list":["post-50385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-oddities","category-birds","category-killdeer-shore-birds","category-miscellaneous","tag-charadrius-vociferous","tag-grasping","tag-killdeer","tag-opposable-toes","tag-perching","tag-toe-locking-mechanism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/killdeer-1509-ron-dudley.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-d6F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160561,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50385\/revisions\/160561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}