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:

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.

doi:10.59350/w2kdp-25k61