Here’s something I had never thought about until I watched a Wood Stork try to drink water. These birds are too big to just bend down.
Birds knees bend in the exact opposite direction as a mammal. Add to that a Stork is pretty darn huge!
At some point this poor bird was lying in the water to drink.
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Getting A Drink Is Hard, Stork
Getting A Drink Is Hard, Stork
Getting A Drink Is Hard, Stork
Getting A Drink Is Hard, Stork
Getting A Drink Is Hard, Stork
Getting A Drink Is Hard, Stork
Getting A Drink Is Hard, Stork
Drink on beauty!
When you shoot specific birds, or any animal, you eventually see many unexpected things 😊😊😊.
Actually, the joint you see bending “backward” is the bird’s ankle, not his knee. Bird leg joints are analogous to human legs. Their knee is usually sharply bent and held close to their chest, with their thigh extending backwards to their hip… just like ours would be if we were crouched down. Animals which walk with only their toes touching the ground, including all birds, are called “digitigrade”. Here’s a reference: https://www.skeletaldrawing.com/blog/um-hey-scientific-american-bird-knees/
And they look totally bizarre when sitting on the ground 🤣🤣🤣
By the way, today I figured out that the crazy WordPress problem with not recognizing that I’m logged in does not apply in WordPress Reader – in the Reader my identity is recognized, and my comments are posted directly, without you having to Approve my comments. Yay!
Yes… I just had to OK one though. 🤣🤣🤣