Jane Hall of East Lyme feeds the gulls at McCook beach in Niantic on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. "I always wondered how their feet don't get cold," Hall said of the gulls. "So I went to the Book Barn and got a book on that type of bird and now I understand," she said. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, birds have few pain receptors in their feet and the circulation in their legs and feet is a double shunt— the blood vessels going to and from the feet are very close together, so blood flowing back to the body is warmed by blood flowing to the feet. The newly cooled blood in the feet lowers heat loss from the feet, and the warmed blood flowing back into the body prevents the bird from becoming chilled. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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Jane Hall of East Lyme feeds the gulls at McCook beach in Niantic on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. "I always wondered how their feet don't get cold," Hall said of the gulls. "So I went to the Book Barn and got a book on that type of bird and now I understand," she said. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, birds have few pain receptors in their feet and the circulation in their legs and feet is a double shunt— the blood vessels going to and from the feet are very close together, so blood flowing back to the body is warmed by blood flowing to the feet. The newly cooled blood in the feet lowers heat loss from the feet, and the warmed blood flowing back into the body prevents the bird from becoming chilled. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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