Red-necked Grebe young ingesting feather
A young Red-necked Grebe eagerly ingests a feather on its own. I also observed a young take a feather given to it by an adult that had been preening. Grebes as a family are well-known for this phenomenon. It is thought that the feathers serve to pad the stomach to protect it from sharp fish bones, and slow digestion to allow the bones to dissolve and not pass into the intestine where they could cause injury. Most of the feathers taken by grebes are small, downy, contour feathers, not larger feathers with hard quills. This behaviour was witnessed near Airdrie in southern Alberta, Canada.
Red-necked Grebe young ingesting feather
A young Red-necked Grebe eagerly ingests a feather on its own. I also observed a young take a feather given to it by an adult that had been preening. Grebes as a family are well-known for this phenomenon. It is thought that the feathers serve to pad the stomach to protect it from sharp fish bones, and slow digestion to allow the bones to dissolve and not pass into the intestine where they could cause injury. Most of the feathers taken by grebes are small, downy, contour feathers, not larger feathers with hard quills. This behaviour was witnessed near Airdrie in southern Alberta, Canada.