(DAVID ALLEN) SIBLEY, WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A BIRD — Birds have no teeth. Food can be broken up a little by the bill, but most of the work of crushing food is performed by the very muscular gizzard. ... [A] Wild Turkey can crush whole walnuts..., and the Surf Scoter can crush... clams.
Birds have no teeth. Food can be broken up a little by the bill, but most of the work of crushing food is performed by the very muscular gizzard. Food is stored in the crop, an expandable pouch at the front of the body, and then passes through the proventriculus into the gizzard. There, powerful muscles squeeze and grind the food. The gizzard is remarkably strong; for example, a Wild Turkey can crush whole walnuts in its gizzard, and the Surf Scoter can crush small clams.
| A. | Willie Dixon blues song recorded by Howlin' Wolf and Cream | SPOONFUL |
| B. | Distasteful, nasty or unpleasant, informally | ICKY |
| C. | Susan ____, four-time Iditarod winner | BUTCHER |
| D. | Like keto or paleo, dietwise (hyph.) | LOWCARB |
| E. | Neighborhood next to Corona in Queens | ELMHURST |
| F. | Thanksgiving side dish | YAMS |
| G. | Bipedal dragon with wings | WYVERN |
| H. | Opening on a ship's deck | HATCH |
| I. | Firmly affixed to a menu? (2 wds.) | ALDENTE |
| J. | Dessert on the diminutive side | TARTLET |
| K. | Cooking show from Japan (2 wds.) | IRONCHEF |
| L. | Thanksgiving, for one | THURSDAY |
| M. | Method of cooking involving vacuum-sealing and immersing in hot water (2 wds.) | SOUSVIDE |
| N. | Ethologist Konrad who studied geese | LORENZ |
| O. | City on the Bosporus Strait | ISTANBUL |
| P. | Entrepreneur portrayed in the 2016 biopic "The Founder" | KROC |
| Q. | Avoid using, spurn, forgo | ESCHEW |
| R. | One-sided contest | THRASHING |
| S. | Granular pasta bits | ORZO |
| T. | Decline to take part in (2 wds.) | BEGOFF |
| U. | Shape of macaroni | ELBOW |
| V. | Artist who killed his subjects before painting them | AUDUBON |
| W. | Overexposed to light, perhaps | BLEACHED |
| X. | Postprandial Thanksgiving declaration (2 wds.) | IMSTUFFED |
| Y. | Player with a 2019 N.B.A. Championship ring | RAPTOR |
| Z. | One might hit a snare | DRUMSTICK |