Grit

Have you ever observed house sparrows pecking at the mortar between bricks on a house foundation? Or have you seen evening grosbeaks or flocks of other seed-eating birds on a snowy road that has just been treated with sand? These birds are getting grit for their gizzards. What is grit? And what is a gizzard? The gizzard is the muscular stomach that seed-eating birds have. Food passing through the gizzard is broken down as the gizzards muscles contract. Grit (in the form of small stones, sand, or even eggshells consumed by birds) resides in the gizzard, helping to speed the food processing. We offer grit in the form of a pile of coarse sand left over from a building project. We often see sparrows, finches, and mourning doves getting grit from our sand pile. You can offer grit on the ground or on a platform feeder