Many people assume that all birds with webbed feet must be aquatic birds that swim frequently. However, there are actually several species of birds that have webbed feet but do not swim often. In this article, we’ll explore some of these unusual birds and discuss why they have webbed feet despite not being very aquatic.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer: Although they have webbed feet, birds like ostriches, emus, plovers, thick-knees, and sheathbills rarely swim because they inhabit terrestrial environments and use their feet for running, walking, or wading.
Birds With Webbed Feet Adapted to Land
Ostriches and Emus
The ostrich and emu are large flightless birds that inhabit open grasslands and savannas. Despite having partially webbed feet, they rarely take to the water. So why do they have webbed feet if not for paddling around ponds and lakes?
It turns out their feet are adapted for speedy running rather than swimming.
Ostriches are the fastest bird on land, capable of sprinting up to 43 mph. Their powerful legs and two-toed feet with soft tissue joining the toes provide exceptional traction and balance when running.
The webbing helps stabilize the feet and distribute their immense body weight more evenly across the toes. An ostrich’s feet are like all-terrain vehicle tires, allowing them to accelerate rapidly, turn sharply, and brake quickly.
Similarly, emus use their webbed feet and strong legs to reach trotting speeds over 30 mph. The connecting tissue between the toes gives them a larger surface area to push off the ground with each step.
So despite appearances, the webbed feet of ostriches and emus are not for swimming but rather acting like performance automobile tires for blazing speed on land.
Plovers and Thick-knees
Plovers and thick-knees are medium-sized shorebirds that inhabit beaches, mudflats, and grasslands worldwide. They have partial webs joining their three front toes. But while they frequent water edges, they rarely go deeper than wading depth for feeding.
The webbed feet provide excellent mobility on loose or slippery terrain near the shore. The extra surface area and toe connections allow plovers and thick-knees to walk steadily on mud without sinking in too deep.
Their partially webbed feet also facilitate quick pivots and acceleration bursts when chasing prey or escaping danger across sandy or muddy ground near the water’s edge.
So for plovers and thick-knees, webbed feet serve to facilitate movement over soft, unstable surfaces rather than extended swimming strokes. They strike an ideal balance between moderate webbing for traction and unconnected hind toes for running and walking on land.
Sheathbills
Sheathbills are odd-looking white birds that inhabit the isolated islands of the Antarctic and Subantarctic. They have a thick, heavy bill and partially webbed feet. But with their portly frame and short wings, sheathbills cannot fly or swim any reasonable distance.
Instead, sheathbills use their webbed feet to aid their walking stride over uneven and rocky coastal terrain speckled with penguin burrows. The extra stability keeps them from twisting ankles or falling as they waddle to scavenge scraps and prey on eggs and chicks.
Their toe webbing provides necessary grip and balance for clambering over the challenging landscape they call home.
So while many birds sport webbed feet for paddling through water, some unusual species like ostriches, plovers, and sheathbills have adapted that trait for better mobility on land. Form matches functions as feet morph to meet lifestyle needs.
Explanations for Webbed Feet in Terrestrial Birds
Shared Evolutionary History With Aquatic Relatives
Many terrestrial birds like roadrunners and quails have webbed feet, even though they don’t swim often. This seemingly paradoxical trait is due to their shared evolutionary history with aquatic and semi-aquatic relatives (Kear and Berger 2020).
For example, quails belong to the same order Galliformes as chickens, turkeys, grouses and pheasants, which contains many water-loving or semi-aquatic species. Although quails themselves moved to more arid habitats over evolutionary time, they retained the webbed feet of their ancestors.
Help With Walking and Wading
The webbed feet still serve important functions for terrestrial birds like improved mobility. As roadrunners dart across the desert sands chasing lizards, the webbing between their toes lends extra traction and grip with each running step (Jarvis 2021).
For quails and other upland gamebirds that frequent marshy areas, the webbing allows them to easily wade through mud or shallow water to reach seedlings and insects (USFWS 2022). So even though terrestrial birds with webbed feet spend little time swimming, their feet still aid walking and wading.
Temperature Regulation
Finally, webbed feet play roles in body heat regulation. Looser webbing allows for greater air circulation across blood vessels to help cool birds on hot days. Tighter webbing does the opposite, helping the feet better retain heat (Abourachid et al. 2013).
Quails living in exposed desert environments can vasodilate blood vessels in their feet on hot days and vasoconstrict them on cold nights to stabilize their body temperature. So webbed feet play a clear role in thermoregulation even without swimming.
Other Interesting Cases of Webbed Feet
Seedsnipes
Seedsnipes are small birds that live in South America. They have partially webbed feet which helps them walk on muddy or marshy ground when searching for seeds and insects to eat. Even though they have webbed feet, seedsnipes don’t actually swim.
The webbing on their toes just provides better traction and support when walking in muddy areas. Pretty nifty adaptation!
Finfoots
Finfoots, also called helmeted birds, are weird water birds that live in tropical regions of Africa and Asia. They have striking colorful bills and fully webbed lobed toes. You’d think they’d be excellent swimmers with those webbed feet, but finfoots actually prefer walking on aquatic vegetation and seldom swim!
They use their specialized bill to forage for insects and mollusks along the water’s edge. Their webbed toes allow them to carefully walk across floating vegetation and river debris without sinking. Cool!
Painted-snipes
Like seedsnipes, painted-snipes are South American shorebirds with green and brown speckled plumage that provides good camouflage in marshes and wetlands. They have partially webbed feet which gives them better traction when walking across mushy ground and floating vegetation.
Painted-snipes use their slender bills to pluck insects and seeds from the mud and water’s surface. Despite having partial webbing between their toes, painted-snipes rarely swim. They prefer hopping between tufts of grass and wading through shallow water instead.
Conclusion
While aquatic birds rely heavily on their webbed feet for swimming, many terrestrial species have retained webbed feet from their evolutionary past or utilize them for other purposes like walking, wading, or regulating body temperature.
The next time you see a bird on land with webbed feet, take a closer lookâit may be one of these fascinating species adapted for a life out of water.
