The hyssop flowers behind us were buzzing with bumble bees as we basked in the sun next to the pollinator garden. Aldo the kestrel had one foot tucked up into his fluffed belly feathers, a sure sign of comfort. Then he gaped his mouth open wide as if he were getting ready to cough up a pellet.
A pellet didn't come up that morning, but I did get a rare glimpse inside his beak. I could even see the choanal slit on the roof of his mouth. As the name implies, this feature is simply a slit that connects the airway from his nares, or nostrils, to the trachea and into the lungs. When his mouth is closed, the trachea's tube-like opening behind the tongue fits into the choanal slit and allows him to breathe with a closed beak.
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