birdsoup

Q: How many toes does a bird have?

A: Most birds have four toes, usually arranged with three toes pointing forward and one (the hallux or big toe) pointing backwards. Woodpeckers, however, tend to have two toes forward and two backward which makes it easier to hitch vertically up a tree trunk.

Of course nothing is absolute in nature. There are always exceptions. Three-toed woodpeckers only have three toes. So do plovers, oystercatchers and sanderlings.

And just to be different, an Ostrich only has two toes