23，Drinking on the Wing

用翅膀喝水的鸟 Drinking on the Wing As a Tree Swallow swoops gracefully across a marsh, its long, slender wings glint a deep, iridescent blue. It glides close to the surface, tips its head down, and lightly skims the pond for a second with its beak open. Drinking – on the wing. Many birds drink while standing: dipping their beaks into a pond or birdbath, taking a beakful, and then tossing their heads back to swallow the water. And most birds can’t pull off a daredevil, in-flight drink because they just aren’t built for it. Swallows are such virtuosos of flight that their skimming the pond almost looks like showing off. Drinking on the wing suits swallows best. They walk awkwardly on the ground on rather short legs, and their long wings are pretty cumbersome. So it’s far more efficient to grab a drink on the glide. This adaptation holds true for some other birds, too. Common Nighthawks are much bigger than swallows, with a two-foot wingspan. They take their water in flight, too. While swifts, with an even longer-winged structure than swallows, have such short legs that they never land on the ground, and so a sip on the wing is all but essential. 如果你希望查看音频的内容讲解与分析，请关注微信公号【荒野苏州】，加入我们的自然课堂！ 如果你希望周末带孩子走进自然，请申请成为“荒野俱乐部”会员。 拓展孩子的词汇量 提高孩子的表达能力 本专辑原创音频版权归“荒野苏州”所有，未经授权许可，严禁用于其他平台或商业用途！