A Bird’s Digestive System

The bird’s digestive system is unlike any other animal. They have parts not seen by other animals because they are exclusively made for different jobs that mainly the bird can undertake.

Birds have beaks that are created according to the type of food they consume. Birds that consume hard nuts have strong arched beaks to break the nuts. The arch of the beak as well helps in climbing up trees. The birds that eat smaller, softer seeds have a more pointed beak. They use their pointed beaks to also peck insects

There is no chewing because birds have no teeth. To gulp down, birds tilt their heads back to move the bite to the back of the throat, and their tongues can assist to move the food into a better swallowing spot. Saliva helps the food to go down even better.

After moving from the bill, food moves down a pipe called the esophagus and into the crop,which accumulates surplus food so the bird can digest it little by little. The food then travels to the proventriculous, the initial part of the stomach, where it is broken down by gastric acid, mucus and other digestive juices. The next part of the stomach, the gizzard, then crushes the food into smaller bits. Harder food moves between the proventriculous and the gizzard numerous times for more competent digestion. Once the food is adequately broken down, it goes into the small intestine, where the liver and pancreas facilitate with soaking up nutrients. After that the food moves to the large intestine. It is indeed short for most birds. The ceca is where the small and large intestines join. The two pouches will help absorb any remaining water from the food and help end the digestive process.

At the end of the process, some bits of the food will not be used by the bird. This comes out of the bird as faeces and urine. All waste comes out of the bird from the Vent or Cloaca.