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MECHAN/CAL MARVELS
carefully designed for obtaining
food, bird beaks occur in hundreds of forms. Clockwise
from upper left: Flamingo has built-in filter sieve in its bill
which sifts small shellfish aild·other bits of food from the
mud of shallow water; mallard duck has strainer bill; cross–
bill uses beak to pry apart'pinecones and extrae! seeds;
hummingbird has beak shaped like a syringe for extracting
nectar; pe/ican has mechanical scoop for catching fish and
holding food to feed the young; bald eagle has incisor beak
for tearing apart prey; ivory-bil/ed woodpecker (center)
has hard chisel-like beak for hammering into trees to find
insects.