The observant person, probably, had to notice one interesting feature of pigeons, which distinguishes them from other birds. Why do they drink water like that? And most importantly - how do they do it? We will try to find answers to these questions and explain the features of the skill of these representatives of the feathered world.

Comparison of the process of drinking different birds

It seems familiar to everyone when a bird (for example, the same chicken) drinks water, collecting water in its beak, and then tilts its head. This movement allows water to flow freely. The main reason for this method of drinking water is that the birds have no lips that allow them to compress the air flow by compression.

But there are other ways to absorb moisture. For example, a hummingbird is a small bird that feeds on nectar, varnishing it from flower buds. Or the previously mentioned pigeons, which drink water by immersing their beak in water almost completely. They do this by suction, which is not typical for representatives of the bird kingdom.

This feature is characteristic of the entire pigeon family. Birds similar to them are also made under the name of a pockmark, which suck water with their beaks, like through a straw.

Interesting fact: pigeons can not drink water at all for a long time, and life-giving moisture is obtained from certain foods - for example, fruits.

Other interesting ways to drink birds

Not only doves know how to suck water with their beaks, and such an amazing property is characteristic not only of them. There are some feathered features that may surprise a person:

• Parrots can suck, lap or drink water, tipping their heads.By the way, they also in some way replace water with liquid from fruits and berries, which form part of their diet;
• Many birds know how to collect dew from herbs, and all thanks to the special structure of their beaks;
• In an amazing way, swallows are able to drink - in the rain they pick up drops of moisture on the fly;
• Ripples, which mainly live in a desert area, where there are not many sources of life-giving moisture, bring water to the chicks in plumage.

Nature uses such tricks in view of the adaptation of birds to their living conditions. For example, in the winter, when there is a lot of water, but it is frozen, birds (including pigeons) eat snow. And some (the same albatrosses) have adapted to drink sea water, which is processed in their body and does not harm anything.

How do pigeons drink water without raising their heads?

Technically, such tricks regarding the method of drinking become possible due to the structural features of the beak and the digestive system as a whole. So for representatives of the pigeon family, the way to drink without throwing their head back was made possible by the fact that their beak is able to block the air flow during the pharynx. With the beak closed, only a small hole remains at the end, through which the fluid is drawn in.

All animals and birds have species features that have arisen due to the conditions of their existence, as well as various individual factors. Someone feeds exclusively on one type of cereal or fruit, while someone, like the same pigeons, drinks water without tipping their heads.
Reliably ornithologists cannot determine why such a species quirk arose, but fact is a stubborn thing. This proves that the statement “pigeons are amazing birds” is rational.

Science has long been studying their habits and characteristic features of the species, which proves the presence of their highly developed intelligence. Through lengthy observations, not only their navigational abilities were established, but also the presence of logic (for example, the ability to find a compromise in constructing a route of movement). Probably, after some time, the mystery of the special pigeon ways to drink water will be solved.