Which birds can't perch on a wire? (1 Viewer)

[buckskin hawk]

This topic came from another thread and it started me wondering. Which birds can't get their feet around a wire?

Here is a list of birds I have not seen on a wire.

1. Herons, egrets and waders except for a Green Heron reported to have been on a telephone wire
2. Ducks, Grebes, terns and gulls
3. Game birds - grouse, quail, turkeys
4. Sandpipers and plovers - I have never seen a kildeer sit on a fence wire but we have lots of them in the pasture.
5. Owls????? I have seen them on the fence post and on a fence board but not a wire.
6. Goatsuckers???

Any others? Any exceptions or dicussions of the above.

 

[Katy Penland]

I understand some species of swifts can't "perch" on anything but a vertical surface.

 

[Terry O'Nolley]

1. Herons, egrets and waders except for a Green Heron reported to have been on a telephone wire

I saw a Green Heron on a telephone wire - he was perched there as nice as could be and I watched him from fairly close (~50 meters) through 8x bins for at least a minute.

 

[Progne Subis]

How about an Emperor Penguin. That's the last thing I'd expect!

 

[IanF]

Cormorants and Shags?

 

[Darrell Clegg]

Erm - I suppose in many cases it depends how thick the wire is. Birds such as Cormorants regularly sit on power cables.

I think Alcids would find it difficult to sit on any kind of wire.

Darrell

 

[Tim Hall]

I've seen a Little Owl on a wire, in Wiltshire a few years ago.

 

[Tim Hall]

And my father told me he saw one doing the same in the West Midlands, so it's probably quite common.

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

Cormorants and Shags?

Cormorants commonly perch on high voltage wires over the Rivers Usk and Wye Ian.

Andy.

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

I've seen a Little Owl on a wire, in Wiltshire a few years ago.

First Little Owl I ever saw was perched on a wire!

Andy.

 

[Karl J]

geese ?

 

[Karl J]

geese & cranes ?

 

[samuel walker]

chimney swifts do not have a foot capable of using a horizonal perch. They fly all day and cling to a chimney wall at night.
Sam

 

[Edward]

Often see Arctic Terns perched on wires in Iceland and I've seen Whimbrels on wires on more than one occasion. As for goatsuckers then I've seen European Nightjars and Red-necked Nightjars on wires.


E

 

[matt green]

i once saw one of my local long eard owls perched on a wire over a train line!.

 

[Garden_birder]

Loons (Divers) can't perch on wires.

 

[jurek]

This topic came from another thread and it started me wondering. Which birds can't get their feet around a wire?

Ostriches
Penguins
Kiwi

I saw cormorants and assorted terns, gulls, waders and herons perched on wires. Also Little Owls

 

[Allen S. Moore]

This topic came from another thread and it started me wondering. Which birds can't get their feet around a wire?

Here is a list of birds I have not seen on a wire.

1. Herons, egrets and waders except for a Green Heron reported to have been on a telephone wire
Any exceptions or dicussions of the above.

I actually saw a grey heron perching on a telephone wire, admittedly quite a thick one, in the Ebro Delta, Spain 4 years ago. It looked very strange - I didn't know what I was seeing at first!

 

[Tim Hall]

I won't sleep well tonight thinking about a Great Northern Diver wobbling about, and failing to perch on a wire, a bizarre thought! Thanks!!

 

[jurek]

I think loons, grebes, tubenoses and auks cannot. Also, apparently, plovers due to their lack of a hind toe. Sandpipers and snipes can, I saw myself. Swifts perhaps, too - but Asian treeswifts do perch on branches and presumably wires.