[Bird calls] [A straight-billed woodcreeper with a large insect in its bill clings to the side of a tree. It shakes its head several times, and repositions the insect. Then it repeatedly hits the insect against the tree, breaking it into smaller pieces. It tries to swallow the insect. It still has some difficulty, but eventually succeeds. It wipes its beak on the tree, then flies away.] [Explore MacaulayLibrary.org]
End of transcriptStraight-billed Woodcreeper Breaks Down Large Insect
This Straight-billed Woodcreeper has captured a substantial meal, but it is far too large for the bird to consume in one go. This problem is fixed by hitting the insect on a tree multiple times to break it into smaller, more manageable pieces that the bird can swallow.
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