The HERRING GULL mom or dad arrives home at the nest with a bellyful of food – but in there, it’s of no use to the hungry chicks. Then the chick pecks at the parent’s bill, upon which they open their bill & disgorge the partly digested food for the chick to feed.
But here's the fascinating thing - the chicks don’t peck at the parent’s beak haphazardly. As you can see, there is a bright red spot near the tip of the gull's beak – and scientific testing has shown that the baby gulls will not peck at the beaks if the red spot was painted over.
Somehow the red spot releases the pecking instinct of the chick, and the pecking in turn releases the disgorging of food by the parent.
I think that is awesome.........
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