Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: New Zealand Bellbird
A New Zealand Bellbird perched on a flowering branch, the bird's face lightly speckled with pollen and its red eyes shining
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • Daily Shows
    • Threatened
    • Grouse
    • BirdNote Presents
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
    • Success Stories
  • About
    • The BirdNote Story
    • The Team
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • Contact Us
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Giblets and Gizzards

The gizzard is an organ that’s a key part of bird digestion
Subscribe to the Podcast
Download
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Wild Turkey
© Amaury Laporte

A bird’s stomach is divided into two parts. The first part is a lot like our stomach; it’s filled with digestive juices to break down food. But the second part — that’s the bird’s gizzard. It’s a strong, muscular pouch that breaks down hard foods like seeds and nuts.

Support for BirdNote comes from American Bird Conservancy and Bringing Back the Birds, a photo book by Owen Deutsch on the importance of protecting birdscapes. Available at Amazon.com.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

Giblets and Gizzards

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[Wild Turkey gobbling]

If you made giblet (JIB-lit) gravy for your Thanksgiving feast, you used the turkey’s vital organs – its heart, liver, and gizzard. Now, those first two are familiar enough, but what the heck is a gizzard?

A bird’s stomach is divided into two parts. The first part is a lot like your stomach; it’s filled with digestive juices to break down food. But the second part — that’s the bird’s gizzard.

The gizzard is a strong, muscular pouch that breaks down hard foods like seeds and nuts. Birds will often swallow bits of gravel and sand, which go to the gizzard to help crush up the food.

Waterfowl, like ducks, slurp up grit they find on the bottoms of lakes to help their digestion. Birds like turkeys, quail, doves, and finches are often seen pecking the ground for grit to help their gizzards break down all the tough seeds they eat.

So while the gizzard may be a delicacy for us, it’s a key part of digestion for some birds.

For BirdNote, I’m Ashley Ahearn.
Support for BirdNote comes from American Bird Conservancy and Bringing Back the Birds, a photo book by Owen Deutsch on the importance of protecting birdscapes. Available at amazon dot com.

###
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Sallie Bodie
Managing Producer: Jason Saul
Editor: Ashley Ahearn
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill
Narrator: Ashley Ahearn
Wild Turkey gobbling recorded by Martyn Stewart
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2019 BirdNote   November 2019

ID#  112307gizzard   gizzard-01c
 

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Ashley Ahearn
Narrator
Support More Shows Like This

Related Resources

More about gizzards and bird digestionSign up for BirdNote weekly preview

More About These Birds

Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

Meleagris gallopavo

Sights & Sounds

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • Daily Shows
  • Field Notes
  • BirdNote Presents
  • Sights & Sounds
  • About BirdNote
  • Contact BirdNote
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy