What Do Baby Birds Eat?

Birds feed their young a variety of foods in a variety of ways. It depends on the type of bird and the foods that are available. You wouldn't expect a penguin to feed it's babies worms. There aren't any around the frozen south pole. But hey, there's plenty of little fishes around that baby penguins just love.

Some parent birds eat the food first. Why? Well, there are a number of reasons. First,it's a good way to make foods that are too large or too hard for baby birds to eat all soft and mushy. It's also an economical and practical way to carry large quantities of food like fish, seeds or bugs from one place to another. They don't have arms you know? Then when they get to the nest they regurgitate or throw up (yuk) the food for the babies.

A robin might feed its babies whole insects or worms that it finds fairly close to its nest. But if it has four or five babies that's a lot of trips back and forth to keep the babies full. Good thing her food supply is close.

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