Feeding garden birds

Here's a curious thought which just popped into my head - I feed the birds daily and sprinkle the feed on an unused area of my tarmac driveway.

In the wild birds of course peck any ground-based food off relatively soft surfaces like grass and soil but when feeding off tarmac or any other hard surfaces their beaks are naturally hitting a very hard surface.

Doesn't this damage their beaks or even their skulls where the beaks are joined?

A strange thought I know, but a thought nonetheless ........

 

I would think they pick the food up rather than drive the beak into the tarmac. A bit like you picking a peanut off a hard surface you don't drive your fingers into the hard surface you pick the nut up off the surface.
Woodpeckers have strengthened neck muscles and a shock absorbent pad between the beak and the skull.

 

Yes, the small ground feeders picking up the food would make sense, but when you watch them eating it's hard to be sure.

Woodpeckers are amazing!

 

You would need to be close up to see it from their point of view.
Perhaps somebody on here has fed a bird from the palm of the hand.

 

Only a male mallard who gets a portion of suet granules at 9am, 1pm, 6pm and 9pm. He is often impatient for me to put them on the ground at his feet and begins to peck my fingers to speed me up! Quite gentle and not at all stabbing.

 

@JocAPhotography on Twitter/X posts wonderful slow-motion videos of birds feeding from her hand. You can see that they pick the seeds up very delicately and manipulate them with their tongues. They are able to fit multiple seeds in their beaks at once doing this (and if you've spotted a bird feeding its young, you'll note they don't waste time taking one grub/worm at a time, their beaks are stuffed full)
She's in the US so a bonus is you get to recognise the common American birds like tufted titmouse, black capped chickadee and northern cardinal.
x.com

 

Fez