More raptors with their heads on backwards
Chet Gottfried got in touch after he read Yet more lying necks: Backwards Birds edition, nearly two months ago now, with some more of his photos. Here they are, with his permission:
Bald eagle from behind, its neck twisted about 135 degrees so that it’s looking back over its left shoulder.
Merlin in left posteolateral view with its neck twisted about 135 degrees so its head, looking back over its left shoulder, is directly facing us.
What’s going on here? As I wrote the Chet, “Interesting that this degree of twisting is common in raptors. I would not have thought their lifestyle demanded it, but what do I know?” He replied:
Movement means detection, and whoever can stay still the best (whether hunter or prey) will be most successful. And a head turn is much less detectable than a whole body turn. Also, if perching depends on balance, the least one does to upset the balance is best.
I replied “Solid point. I think of raptors cruising the skies, but of course they also spend a lot of time perching, waiting and watching.” Chet’s response:
I would suspect that eagles and buteos (such as red-tailed hawks) hunt from the sky, whereas falcons and accipiters hunt every which way. I remember once seeing a blue jay land in a tree and intent on harassing a Cooper’s hawk that was perched perhaps 2 feet below. The hawk literally jumped up, turned, grabbed the jay in its talons, and flew off. And whereas I’m accustomed to seeing Cooper’s hawks flying or perched, I saw one hawk stalk on the ground from underneath a hedge.
And of course it’s true: animals with apparently similar morphology can have very different lifestyles. It’s worth remembering when we’re thinking how extinct animals lived. Anything that we say about sauropods as a whole — or ceratopsians, say, or hadrosaurus — is very unlikely to be true of all members of the group.
Source: https://svpow.com/2025/12/21/more-raptors-with-their-heads-on-backwards/
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