Blue Tit with abnormal beak.

[phil kirk]

I spent some time photographing garden birds today. Looking at the pictures later I noticed one of the Blue Tits had an abnormal upper mandible. You'd wonder how it could have survived so far with a beak like this. You'd imagine that eating seeds or picking insects from leaves would be a problem. Image in gallery:

http://www.chorleynats.org.uk/gallery/m ... alNumber=1

[Hewitt03]

could it have been a genetic anomaly or could its parents have hybridised with a crossbill?