Bird's have amazing feet that are much different than ours.  Most people think that a bird's knee bends backwards, but in fact what we think looks like a knee is actually the bird's ankle / heel joint.  The knee is hidden under feathers close to the bird's body.  Since everything under the ankle is the foot, it is easy to see that a bird actually walks on its toes.  (See diagram below)

Another name for a bird's toe is a digit.  When comparing a bird's digit with our toes, the first digit would be our big toe.  The second digit would be the next toe and so on.  Bird's are missing the fifth digit, or our little toe.  In fact, some birds have only three toes, and the Ostrich has only two.

The above diagram is of a typical bird foot, such as a Blue Jay.  This type of foot is called anisodactyl.  The bird's first digit (our big toe) is positioned at the back behind the other digits.  The second digit is the inner toe, the third digit is the middle toe, and the fourth digit is the outside toe. This is only one type of toe arrangement in birds.  Click on the "next" button to continue learning about different kinds of bird feet.