From the embryonic whale... to the pigeon with no tail

Notice anything weird about this pigeon?

Maybe this will help:


Poor little thing has lost its tail feathers somehow, so it's been relegated to the bird dome. Without a tail, it can't seem to balance, and so it spends its time falling back onto its butt, and flapping upright again. It would be laughable if it wasn't so pitiable!

Stumpy

Sometimes you can get to know individual birds at the lake because of something distinctive about them. A lot of times it's an injury, like a missing toe. Several times in April, I spotted Stumpy the snowy egret, who is missing 3 out of 4 toes on the right foot.

Missing toes might be a big deal for a snowy egret, because they use their bright yellow feet to churn up the mud as they walk, scaring snacks out of hiding and into their waiting beaks. But I saw Stumpy foraging in the shallows and the stump seemed to work just fine as a churning device, and the remaining toe seems to be enough for balance.

There's also Stumpy the Night Heron, who's just missing the tip of one toe on the left foot. Kind of hard to see in the photo but enough to make this bird uniquely identifiable.


Having seen the way these guys fight, I wouldn't be surprised if a nasty peck from a rival caused this injury.