Why do grouse eat rocks?

[alfoldivandor]

Why do grouse eat rocks?

To help the gizzard do its job, birds are frequently seen along roadsides picking up grit like sand and small stones that function like teeth. These 'teeth' collect in the gizzard, a muscular part of a bird's stomach used to grind up and pulverize food.

[huntervinni]

Yup and for a tasty treat you should try eating the gizzards yourself as they are quite tasty.

[oaknut]

Just had myself a big feed of heart and gizzard stew yesterday. The last of the years duck....

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[sawbill]

And in the winter when gravel isn't available they'll eat wintergreen and cornus canadensis (Canadian bunchberry) for the seeds. These seeds then replace the work that gravel does in digesting their winter foods. Just more useless info to be stored away.

[Birdbuff]

Wintergreen can also be considered medicinal because of the oils in the leaves.

[alfoldivandor]

"Just more useless info to be stored away"

I disagree with you sawbill !

For new hunters this information will be useful in the way to know where and what time to look for Grouse on hunting trips ...

And in the winter when gravel isn't available they'll eat wintergreen and cornus canadensis (Canadian bunchberry) for the seeds. These seeds then replace the work that gravel does in digesting their winter foods. Just more useless info to be stored away.

[oaknut]

"Just more useless info to be stored away"

I disagree with you sawbill !

For new hunters this information will be useful in the way to know where and what time to look for Grouse on hunting trips ...

I can see your point with that but also disagree to an extent.

New hunters should be less concerned about road hunting for grouse and more concerned about being in the woods learning to find quarry any time of day.

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[dean.f]

And in the winter when gravel isn't available they'll eat wintergreen and cornus canadensis (Canadian bunchberry) for the seeds. These seeds then replace the work that gravel does in digesting their winter foods. Just more useless info to be stored away.

It's funny because I've often wondered what they do once the snow covers all the gravel. Now I'll have to find some other thing to wonder about while I'm wandering the woods....

[alfoldivandor]

"And in the winter when gravel isn't available ..."

" when gravel isn't available " where going to find Bunchberries ?

And in the winter when gravel isn't available they'll eat wintergreen and cornus canadensis (Canadian bunchberry) for the seeds. These seeds then replace the work that gravel does in digesting their winter foods. Just more useless info to be stored away.

[sawbill]

In pine stands where there is not the snow amounts on the ground you would find in hardwoods. It's less because it gets caught up in the boughs then evaporates over time. Grouse bury themselves in the snow and I've known them to stay for up to 3 days in one spot while a storm dissipates.Take a grouse late in the fall and their crops are full of seeds.