Royal Tern with Extra beak?

[Harold Davis]

found this bird on crandon beach in miami a couple of weekends ago. first image was in flight, but ended up running into it again a few minutes later on the beach.

anyone know what this is hanging under it's beak?

thanks

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Could this be its tongue?

[Harold Davis]

it could be, axel. here's another view. unfourtunately, this is all i have.

[Harold Davis]

here's the repost cropped severely. it looks like a tongue. sure didnt seem to affect it much.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

It's amazing that it doesn't seem to cause too much trouble.

[Ilija Dukovski]

It looks to me as if the bird had its bill damaged and split at some point, after which part
of bill started growing aside. This happens sometimes with toenails, scales etc.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Sad. but thats nature I guess.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Sad, but the bottom of the beak, which the tongue normally rests on, has been severely damaged (possibly by attack by predators), and actually has created a hole that the tongue has fallen through. There is probably no way the bird can retract the tongue since no muscles exist to perform an action that is never needed under normal circumstances. I have seen this before(rarely) and the victims seem to get along OK, yet I can't imagine that it bodes well for long term survival. regards~Bill

[Arthur Morris]

I believe that William is correct. I have seen this often in a variety of gull species.