Feather food

Western Grebes---The grebes are rather doting parents. One will carry the chicks on their back, while the other dives for food. In this image, one parent displays the unusual behavior of offering a feather to the chick, in lieu of the usual small fish. Th feather is thought to heles with digestion of fish bones by blocking the entrance to the intestine at the stomach, giving the stomach acids more time to do their thing. And it is thought that the feathers line the intestine, and helps undigested bones pass through without harm. But no one really knows for sure...