Friday, March 30, 2007

Why Freaky Beaky the blue tit owes his life to bread and dripping

Freaky Beaky the blue tit owes his life to a diet of bread and dripping.

The bird has a one-inch (2.5cm) beak, almost five times the average, which has left him unable to enjoy a normal blue tit diet of insects, seeds and nuts.

The four-inch (10cm) bird was a regular visitor to a house in Brambridge, near Winchester, in Hampshire, where the owner noticed the unusual bird was unable to eat the food in her bird feeder.

She tried putting some wholemeal bread fried in beef dripping into the feeder, and was delighted when Freaky Beaky kept coming back for more.

Blue Tit

Bird experts agreed that Freaky Beaky owes his survival to his special diet.

Andre Farrar, spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said: "Blue tits normally have short, powerful, stubby beaks that allow them to pick up insects, seeds and berries but this one clearly has a gross deformity which means he can only eat out of the side of his beak.

"The bread and dripping was a lifeline for this plucky little chap."

Mr Farrar said it was difficult to say what caused the super size beak but that it may be what farmers know as "feather and beak" disease, a condition that causes abnormalities in birds.

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