Author Topic: 2010 - Kinderchicklets / Why does Princess eat stones?  (Read 3754 times)

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Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: Why does Princess eat stones?
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2010, 22:43 »
Hey Kinderchicklets!

Good question, but actually you asked two questions there.  The first is what is "is Princess eating pebbles" and mostly the answer is no.  She's moving the pebbles around to clean up and remake her nest.  Because they don't make a nest like a robin or a goose (you wanted Mother Goose in Edmonton, remember her nest?)  instead they make a little bowl shape hollow in the gravel to hold their eggs during incubation and the chicks when they are very small.  But everytime they get off and then get back on the eggs/chicks, they move the gravel around and they need to fix it up.  Imagine if tomorrow morning you didn't make your bed and when you went to bed tomorrow night you couldn't move your sheets at all, you could only lie on top of them ... would you be able to sleep comfortably?  But if you had made your bed in the morning, when you went to bed, your bedclothes would be all lumpy and bumpy and you would be able to sleep comfortably, no problem.

Your second question is "does Princess eat pebbles" and the answer is yes, sometimes.  Peregrines don't have teeth like we do, so they eat a few pebbles, store them in their gizzard and use them like teeth to grind up their food.  Now a gizzard is like a pouch in your neck - it would be below your chin but above your bellybutton.  If you were one of the peregrine chicks you wouldn't need any pebbles because you are still very little and Princess and Ivy feed you only little pieces of food.  But if you were Princess or Ivy (or if you were an older peregrine chick) you would eat some pebbles and they would sit in your gizzard and then when you ate food the pebbles would grind up your food, like your Mummy's blender at home.

Offline Kinderchick

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2010 - Kinderchicklets / Why does Princess eat stones?
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2010, 13:50 »
Well, here comes another question from the Kinderchicklets, TPC.  :D I know that you have been very busy these days, but their questions continue to fly, so here goes... The 'chicklets were watching Princess on the webcam this morning, just prior to leaving school for the day. Although they have not yet seen the chicks, they happened to see Princess pecking the pebbles in the nestbox and it looked like she was eating some of them because we couldn't see any food remnants hanging around.

So some of my 'chicklets want to know this: "Does Princess eat little stones and if so, why does Princess eat little stones?" ???