In distant Alaska, folks have been reporting a number of chickadees with overgrown beaks. In several cases the beaks have grown so long they’ve crisscrossed, like a pair of scissors.

One bird I trim regularly grows his beak straight out instead of curving down. When the beak has not been trimmed for a while, it becomes huge. Jimmy Durante would be envious.

BIRDS TAKEN FMRO A HOME IN PAPILLION NEARLY A MONTH AGO. THIS IS WHAT WE NOTICED OVERGROWN BEAKS AND CLAWS, BUT NOW THINGS ARE LOOKING UPAN C SEE THE CHANGE IN THE, YOU KNOW, HAVING A BETTER ...

Notice the different types of beaks and how their shapes dictate a bird’s dining habits — particularly the way it consumes black oil sunflower seeds, a highly preferred food among feeder birds.

Previously, Symond’s team found that a bird’s beak acts like a heat leak, helping the animal keep cool. That’s all well and good in hot climates, but in colder regions, heat loss through an ...

Since beak length is known to be associated with food availability, the researchers speculate that the U.K. great tits may be adapting to the widespread use of bird feeders in the country.

A bird’s beak or bill consists of two hornlike structures called the upper and lower mandible. Only the lower mandible moves, similar to the way people’s lower jaws move.