Getting Bit-- From Parrots to Cardinals, A Primer

My father wanted to know if it hurts to get bit by any of the birds we catch in our mist nets, in particular woodpeckers (I think since I posted those pictures of the downy woodpeckers early on). The answer is that those woodpeckers are so tiny that they can't really do any damage even if they try to. However, some of the other birds really do nip. Those that have the hardest, most painful bites are the ones who need to be able to exert a tremendous crushing pressure in order to eat seeds and nuts (you can tell which ones these are just by looking at the shape of their bill). In particular, cardinals are notorious for the amount of pressure they can deliver in a bite, occasionally drawing blood. Surprisingly, house sparrows also have quite a strong nip, as I found out when one caught me in the sensitive web between my fingers. Grackles, which are significantly larger than house sparrows, also have quite a bite, as I found out when trying to photograph one.

Over the years in veterinary clinics and wildlife rehabilitation, I have worked very hard to avoid being bitten, sometimes being accused by bosses and co-workers of being too cautious. The hardest animals I have ever had to handle are parrots. If you don't put pressure up on their mandibles then they can pop up over your grip by extending their neck and really get you. Any large psittacine can do significant damage. A macaw can supposedly sever your finger. These birds have such strong jaws in order to be able to crush nuts and hard fruits in the wild.

Next to large parrots, rodents and cats have the nastiest bites because their bites result in deep puncture wounds (rodents also deliver an incredible crushing force, comparable to a parrot). I once got bit by a squirrel through a very thick leather glove. If you think about it, it's actually not that surprising since squirrels have to be able to crack acorns open with their mouth.

Although I usually worry most about getting bitten, I learned while doing wildlife rehabilitation that there are other defense mechanisms. I learned to be very careful when opening boxes with unknown animals inside because herons when threatened attack by spearing their predator in the eye. As a precaution, when working with herons, we always wore safety goggles.

Turkey vultures' defense is vomiting. They don't always vomit on people, I know of one person whose car got vomited on. I was taught to watch for the changing color of the turkey vulture's head as a warning when it was going to vomit-- before upchucking an adult's head turns from red to purple.

With experience, I learned how to avoid being bit doing wildlife rehabilitation and veterinary nursing. The first few days mist netting, I got bit quite a bit. I felt better when one day Eagle Eyes asked me if I was getting bitten because she was getting so many bites! There is definitely a learning curve. So far I have yet to be bit by a cardinal (check out those chompers), but even a cardinal would be preferable to a parrot any day.


And for comparison here is a grackle beak (even though it is bigger, you can tell it isn't primarily designed for the same crushing force):