Who doesn't like fruits?
Everyone from kids to adults love fruits. If they did not, how would you explain the fact that fruits are such an integral part of our daily lives. Whether it is Strawberry chiffon cake, Fruity Pebbles Cereals, Watermelon Oreos or even Fanta Orange Soda, everyone just can't get enough of fruits. Now if we talk about the raw fruit, that's when most people will tune out.
One issue with eating raw fruits is that often you can't eat the entire fruit. Take apples for example whose seeds we routinely discard or kiwis whose outer skin is regularly peeled away. To do this we use either our hands or a vegetable peeler. Birds on the other hand do not have that luxury and have to use a more primitive technique.
Below is a Spotted Towhee on a Blue Elder tree about to devour those blue berries.
Spotted Towhees cannot digest the seeds in the berries which is great for the plant as it allows these undigested seeds to come out of the other end of the bird (i.e. poop to be politically incorrect) at a different location and ultimately help the tree spread its genes far and wide. At this point it might seem the tree will have the last laugh. But the towhee has a trick up its sleeve.
When they ingest the berries, they won't swallow it right away. They will use their tongue to roll the berry for several seconds thus breaking open the skin, separating the skin, pulp and seed.
And then just like that they will push the seed to the tip of the bill and ultimately discard the seed along with some pulp without any consideration for the plant's feelings. So much for all the hopes and dreams of this tree.
This is how I would separate the seed from the berry using my bare hands.
Another bird that we commonly see in our neighborhood parks and no birder even bothers to take out their camera anymore to take a photo of: Dark-eyed juncos.
Juncos will routinely eat seeds and grains scattered on the ground. To remove the outer coating or husk of the seed, Juncos will do something similar. Roll the seed in their bill, constantly twisting and turning it to break it open and then flicking away the husk from their bill.
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