Salt Glands
Have you ever wondered how waterfowl that spend all or part of the year on the ocean can survive drinking salt water? Seabirds and many shorebirds have a gland above each eye which functions like an extra kidney and draws salt ions out of the bloodstream. Activated by the higher salt levels in the bird’s body, the glands excrete the excess salt through a duct that leads to the bird’s nostrils. From there the salty solution runs down the bird’s beak and back into the sea.
Gulls, terns, petrels, albatrosses, grebes, knots, puffins, loons, penguins, pelicans, sea ducks and geese are some of the birds that possess salt glands. (Photo: Horned Grebe wintering off the coast of Maine)
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