Month: January 2018

I have along the way taken many photos of animals going pooh, quite incidentally, as it just happens. For some (childish) reason it always strikes me as mildly funny. One of the funniest is the Great Blue Heron–the bigger the bird, the greater the amount, and Great Blues are pretty big birds.

That Hedwig goes pooh seemingly so frequently means she is getting plenty to eat. This morning she arrived on the rocks a bloody mess (more signs of good eating) and took a luxuriously long bath in a puddle (posting those photos tomorrow when I have time too sort through). After bathing, she pooped several times before flying to higher ground.

Digestion in Owls

By Deanne Lewis

Like other birds, Owls cannot chew their food – small prey items are swallowed whole, while larger prey are torn into smaller pieces before being swallowed. Some Owl species will partially pluck bird and larger mammal prey.

Unlike other birds, Owls have no Crop. A crop is a loose sac in the throat that serves as storage for food for later consumption. Since an Owl lacks this, food is passed directly into their digestive system.

Now, a bird’s stomach has two parts:

The first part is the glandular stomach or proventriculus, which produces enzymes, acids, and mucus that begin the process of digestion.

The second part is the muscular stomach, called the Ventriculus, or gizzard. There are no digestive glands in the gizzard, and in birds of prey, it serves as a filter, holding back insoluble items such as bones, fur, teeth and feathers (more about this below).

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