36 As their front limbs are completely adapted for flight, most birds hold their food with their beaks alone. Birds’ beaks have evolved a variety of shapes to tackle different kinds of food. Some are short and straight for probing, while others are long and curved for picking out food. Seed-cracker Birds such as chaffinches, which live on hard seeds, have short cone-shaped beaks to crack open their food. For marshes and woodland The woodcock uses its long, pointed beak to extract earthworms and insect larvae from damp ground. A tweezer beak The blackbird’s long, pointed beak enables it to pick up small seeds and grasp larger food items such as earthworms. The curlew’s forceps The curlew jabs its long beak into soft mud to pull out worms and molluscs that are beyond the reach of other birds. Sensitive tip for detecting worms in ground Long beak Curled, long beak Pointed beak for grasping seeds and larger food A woodpecker’s beak is strong enough for hammering , and its tip can repair itself . Chaffinch Curlew Blackbird Woodcock