Connie Sidles will be giving an online Zoom class this June. Her subject will be totally different from any class we’ve offered before: birds’ feet!  We’re calling the class Best Foot Forward: How Birds' Feet Define Their Lives.

© Photo by Doug Parrott

This Pied-billed Grebe is using its foot to preen.

Birds, like humans, are bipedal; and like humans, this fact has freed their (and our) upper limbs for other purposes. In our case, it was hands. In the avian world, it was wings. But because wings are specialized for flying, birds cannot use them as "tools" to grasp, tear, catch, preen, build nests and do all the other tasks of daily living. Instead, birds use their feet. To understand how a bird lives, look down and study its feet. They are, by turns, lethal, cute, feathery, scaly, aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, colorful, long, short and always, always useful. Follow master birder Connie Sidles as she explores this aspect of bird life. You'll never look at birds the same way again.

Classes will be on Tuesdays, June 9, 16 and 23 from 6:30-8:00 pm. The cost is $75 total for the three classes. Click to register.