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In birds, moulting is the periodic replacement of feathers by shedding old feathers while producing new ones. Feathers are dead structures at maturity which are gradually abraded and need to be replaced. Adult birds moult at least once a year, although many moult twice and a few three times each year. [5]
[24] [28] [29] Birds are also taken, as well as lizards, amphibians, fish, spiders, and insects. [30] [31] Even when they are plentiful, and other prey scarce, earthworms do not seem to be consumed. In North America and most of Europe, voles predominate in the diet, and shrews are the second most common food choice. [24]
Young birds show "arrested" moult, retaining feathers for a season and then rapidly moulting them in a serial descendent pattern, where more than one primary feather is moulted at the same time. The adult plumage is found after two years. [29] Calls Eggs. Their prey includes grasshoppers, crickets and other large insects, lizards, and rodents.
Moulting is annual in most species, although some may have two moults a year, and large birds of prey may moult only once every few years. Moulting patterns vary across species. In passerines, flight feathers are replaced one at a time with the innermost primary being the first.
Although the term "bird of prey" could theoretically be taken to include all birds that actively hunt and eat other animals, [4] ornithologists typically use the narrower definition followed in this page, [5] excluding many piscivorous predators such as storks, cranes, herons, gulls, skuas, penguins, and kingfishers, as well as many primarily ...
Almost all species of birds moult at least annually, usually after the breeding season, known as the pre-basic moult.This resulting covering of feathers, which will last either until the next breeding season or until the next annual moult, is known as the basic plumage.
Principal prey species vary throughout its large range, with monkeys, antelopes, rodents, hyraxes, and viverrids all being notable prey groups. [4] Other wild mammals recorded as prey include bushpigs, pangolins, and bats. [4] [5] [6] Birds are also a considerable component of the diet in some populations. [7]
As highly opportunistic predators, Eurasian eagle-owls hunt almost any appropriately sized prey they encounter. Most often, they take whatever prey is locally common and can take a large number of species considered harmful to human financial interests, such as rats, mice, and pigeons. Eurasian eagle-owls do take rare or endangered species, as ...