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Galliformes / ˌ ɡ æ l ɪ ˈ f ɔːr m iː z / is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl.Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often reared by humans for their meat and eggs, or hunted as game birds.
In comparison, the non-specialized fruit-eating birds that they compete with for the mistletoe berry, such as the spiny-cheeked honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis), have a more complex digestive system that takes longer for the fruit seeds to pass, and in the process the seeds are subjected to more mechanical and chemical action in the gut ...
folivores: birds that forage for and eat leaves, such as hoatzin and mousebirds. [141] [146] frugivores: birds that forage for and eat fruit, such as turacos, tanagers and birds-of-paradise. [146] granivores: (sometimes called seed-eating): birds that forage for seeds and grains, [149] such as geese, grouse and estrildid finches. [141] [146]
It mainly feeds on carcasses of dead animals, but it also steals food from other raptors, raids bird and reptile [17] nests, and takes live prey if the possibility arises; mostly this is insects or other small prey, such as small mammals, small birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, crabs, other shellfish, maggots, and worms, [16] [17] [18] but it ...
Birds' diets are varied and often include nectar, fruit, plants, seeds, carrion, and various small animals, including other birds. [78] The digestive system of birds is unique, with a crop for storage and a gizzard that contains swallowed stones for grinding food to compensate for the lack of teeth. [ 148 ]
Many species are brightly colored. As a family they are omnivorous, but individual species specialize in eating fruits, seeds, insects, or other types of food. Most have short, rounded wings. Bananaquit, Coereba flaveola (O) Yellow-faced grassquit, Tiaris olivaceus (O)
They are the only nocturnal flying fruit-eating birds in the world (the kākāpō, also nocturnal, is flightless). They forage at night, with specially adapted eyesight. However, they navigate by echolocation in the same way as bats, one of the few birds to do so. They produce a high-pitched clicking sound of around 2 kHz that is audible to humans.
Frugivore seed dispersal is a common phenomenon in many ecosystems. However, it is not a highly specific type of plant–animal interaction. For example, a single species of frugivorous bird may disperse fruits from several species of plants, or a few species of bird may disperse seeds of one plant species. [3]