if it was a terrestrial animal, it might have been fairly short-necked; if it inhabited wetlands, its neck was probably not short and quite possibly rather long. the bill of "eremopezus" was of unknown shape, but must in some way have been adapted to its feeding. even if not a predator, being as it seems a member of the neoaves its not-too-distant ancestors probably fed on animals. if it fed on terrestrial prey, it might have had the hooked bill of a bird of prey, but this is very specialized. among the "higher waterbirds" that variously consume aquatic and/or terrestrial large invertebrates and small vertebrates, a spear-like pointed bill seems to have proven most apt for the task. the pelecaniformes in particular have a distinct hook or "nail" on the billtip, which is even present in the otherwise plesiomorphic bill of the hammerkop ("scopus umbretta"). if "e. eocaenus" was a pelecaniform, it probably also possessed this "nail", but apart from that its bill might just as well have evolved autapomorphies as bizarre as those of the pelicans.