The wrist and ‘hand’ of a bird contain far fewer bones than those of mammals and reptiles.
Through the evolutionary process that transformed a foreleg into a wing, some of the original bones have been lost, and others fused together.
Marianne Taylor is the writer quoted, in italics. Tomorrow, this little series’ final post will link you to her excellent book on bird anatomy.
Today’s photo (copyright Doug Spencer) was taken on the western side of Lake Monger at 7.13 pm on New Year’s Day.
Tomorrow’s photo was taken only a few seconds later, when the very same individual had attained “lift off”.
The larger wing bones have strong, dense bone material in their outer walls, but have air spaces inside, which reduces their weight and also connects them to the air sac system within the bird’s chest. The bones of a bird’s wing are smaller and shorter than you might expect…
Sublime photo Doug.