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The seedeaters are a form taxon of seed-eating passerine birds with a distinctively conical bill.. Most are Central and South American birds that were formerly placed in the American sparrow family (Passerellidae), but are now known to be tanagers (Thraupidae) closely related to Darwins finches.
Many invertebrates, such as the carrion and burying beetles, [6] as well as maggots of calliphorid flies (such as one of the most important species in Calliphora vomitoria) and flesh-flies, also eat carrion, playing an important role in recycling nitrogen and carbon in animal remains. [7] Zoarcid fish feeding on the carrion of a mobulid ray.
Bird-eating raptors also tend to show greater sexual dimorphism than other raptors, with the females being larger than the males. [ 2 ] Some avian avivores such as the shikra , besra , Eurasian sparrowhawk , and sharp-shinned hawk catch their prey by flying from cover in a tree or bush, taking their prey unawares.
The marabou stork is a massive bird: large specimens are thought to reach a height of 152 centimetres (5 feet) and a weight of 9 kg (20 lb). [ 8 ] [ 9 ] A wingspan of 3.7 m (12 ft) was accepted by Fisher and Peterson, who ranked the species as having the largest wing-spread of any living bird.
In the carrion-eating Old World vultures and snail eating kites, the difference is largely non-existent, though sometimes the female may average slightly heavier. [21] The beaks of accipitrids are strong and hooked (sometimes very hooked, as in the hook-billed kite or snail kite). In some species, there is a notch or 'tooth' in the upper mandible.
An example of this phenomenon is the increased transmission of tuberculosis observed when scavengers engage in eating infected carcasses. [15] Likewise, the ingestion of bat carcasses infected with rabies by striped skunks ( Mephitis mephitis ) resulted in increased infection of these organisms with the virus.
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 ...
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion.There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). [2] Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and South America and consist of seven identified species, all belonging to the Cathartidae family.