Beaks & Bills - Part 1

Can you identify this bird?  I couldn't, at first.  When I photographed it, it was too far away in the trees for me to see it properly.  When I saw this picture up close, thanks to the zoom feature in my photo program, I still had to stop and think about it.  The most easily identifiable feature of this bird was hidden from view on its breast, but I didn't know that.

The back view of this bird was not familiar to me.  All I could see was a black-head bird, a black back with white feathers, and whitish side breasts.  Woodpeckers have black and white backs, but this bird wasn't shaped like a woodpecker.  It was more round.  The beak really gave it away.  It is more massive than a woodpecker's beak.  Sure enough, when I did a little research, I was able to confirm that this is a Red-breasted grosbeak.

Had I seen it from the front, I would have been able to identify it very quickly.  To see what I mean, look here:  http://foundonthetrail.blogspot.com/search/label/Rose-breasted%20Grosbeak .

"Beak" is self-explanatory, but what about "gros"?  It comes from French, and means large, or thick.  Cardinals have this same powerful, cone-shaped beak.  It is a great for cracking open seeds, which is the main part of their diet.

Now take a look at this wren's bill, below.  ("Beak" and "bill" can be used interchangeably, but beaks are more for tearing, like an owl would do with their prey, and bills are more for catching insects from the air.)  You can see how thin and elongated this wren's bill is, compared to the grosbeak above.

Beak and bill shapes can reveal a lot about a bird's diet, and are key features to observe when you are trying to identify birds.