[Various bird and insect calls] [An immature purple gallinule clings to a blade of grass with its large feet. It climbs up the grass, then stops to forage for seeds.] [Explore Macaulaylibrary.org]

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Gallinules’ incredibly large feet allow them to walk across floating lily pads to feed on frogs and aquatic plants. They also use these feet to cling to grasses and forage on the seeds and grains found in reeds.

This video accompanies Chapter 8, Avian Food and Foraging, Handbook of Bird Biology, 3rd Edition from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Wiley Publishing.

Recorded by Jay W McGowan, Macaulay Library