Birds don’t get “pregnant” , because the birdy babies don’t develop inside the mother. Instead, birds are “gravid” when they are carrying an egg.
Fertilization cannot happen through the shell, so the egg is fertilized first, and then the shell calcifies around the baby.
From Carolina Raptor Center:
Just in time for our Baby Shower tomorrow - this morning as we performed an intake exam on a Barred Owl found trapped in a chimney, we got a surprise on its radiograph.
She’s gravid (see the egg?)! Many native raptor species are currently preparing their nests and laying eggs. In about a month, the eggs will hatch!
This owl will remain in our care while she recovers from an eye injury she sustained while being ina chimney (make sure your chimneys are capped!).
If you are wondering how owls do the nasty…
From Ask an Academic
Like most birds and reptiles, owls lack external genitalia, with both sexes instead possessing a cloaca. This is a urogenital opening – an orifice which serves as an opening for the excretion of both urine and faeces, as well as serving reproductive purposes. During copulation, sperm are transferred via a ‘cloacal kiss’ – a brief contact of the cloacae, during which the sperm is transferred very quickly into the female reproductive tract. In some birds this can occur in less than half a second. Although two ovaries are present during the embryonic development of the female bird, the adult usually only possesses a single functional ovary. This is connected to an oviduct, through which the eggs travel, slowly becoming calcified during their journey.
There you have it, the miracle of life! 😮
“Gravid” also applies to mammals but is more of a technical term there: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravidity_and_parity
I did read that while making the post.
In people, it’s just a data point, but when in the context on non-mammals it seems to be the actual process of creating the finished egg.
The root word is the Latin “gravis,” which means heavy, and is the root of many words such as “gravity.”
I get myself off on too many tangents like that, so I just kept it to the birdies, but I’m glad you linked it, because that gravis was interesting too!
Interesting, because “gravid” also means “pregnant” in Swedish
I like tracing where words came from. Those Romans really spread some influence. No wonder I can’t go a day without thinking about them!
And chameleons.
There are some chameleons that give live birth?! (Jackson’s Chameleon)
TIL!
Yep. That is a thing, but not with my Veiled female. (She’ll lay her unfertilized eggs every few months.)
It’s a common mistake from new owners not to notice when their females are gravid.
I don’t think I ever thought about it much with reptiles, but my only real reptile care was babysitting a bearded dragon for a week once for a neighbor.
Kyle the Reptile was its name. 😆