Herbivore Birds

Birds are important herbivores in a food chain. Herbivore birds eat foods such as seeds, nuts, fruits, and nectar. Looking at a bird’s beak gives us clues about what kinds of foods it eats. Birds that eat nuts and seeds, for example, have short, strong beaks. They use their beaks like nutcrackers to crack open the hard shells and seeds. Birds do not have teeth. Inside their bodies, they have organs called gizzards that grind food. Birds may swallow small stones to help their gizzards grind food. Birds also have a food storage area called a crop. This allows the bird to eat a lot of food and then fly to a safe place to digest it.

Hummingbirds have very long, thin beaks. They use their beaks to reach into the center of flowers and drink nectar.View Larger Image

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