Avian foraging refers to the range of activities and behaviours exhibited by birds in their quest for food. In addition to their unique body adaptations, birds have a range of described behaviours that differ from the foraging behaviours of other animal groups. According to the foraging habitat, birds may be grouped into foraging guilds. Foraging includes a range of activities, starting with the search for food, making use of sensory abilities, and which may involve one or more birds either of a single or even of multiple species. This is followed by locomotion and movements to obtain or capture the food, followed by the processing or handling of the foods prior to ingestion. Like all organisms foraging entails balancing the energy spent (in search, locomotion, avoiding predators, handling food) and energy gained. The high metabolic rate of birds, among the highest in the homoeotherm groups, constrains them to ensure a net positive gain in energy and have led evolutionary ethologists to develop the idea of optimal foraging.
Avianforaging refers to the range of activities and behaviours exhibited by birds in their quest for food. In addition to their unique body adaptations...
animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavior of animals in response to the...
or have a single strategy to obtain food are considered specialists. Avianforaging strategies can vary widely by species. Many birds glean for insects...
or have a single strategy to obtain food are considered specialists. Avianforaging strategies can vary widely by species. Many birds glean for insects...
main portion of their diet and 50% of their feeding activity is spent foraging on trunks, branches, and foliage for invertebrates such as isopods, land...
evolution of the avian skull. In essence, adult bird skulls will resemble the juvenile form of their theropod dinosaur ancestors. As the avian lineage has...
2004. Rusterholz, K. A. (1981). "Competition and the Structure of an AvianForaging Guild". American Naturalist. 118 (2): 173–190. doi:10.1086/283813. S2CID 85002007...
A classic example of associative learning is Pavlovian conditioning. In avian research, performance on simple associative learning tasks can be used to...
that is foraged by the spotted towhee. They only eat protein rich food in the breeding season, and in the fall and winter they focus on foraging for acorns...
unique "tooth" on the cutting edge of the upper mandible that may assist in foraging. Unlike the closely related nightjars, the potoos lack rictal bristles...
they forage for insect larvae and pupae hidden behind the woodwork. Woodpeckers sometimes cause problems when they raid fruit crops, but their foraging activities...
carry and spread avian influenza. One study has shown that adult pigeons are not clinically susceptible to the most dangerous strain of avian influenza, H5N1...
described as "two eyes with wings". Birds are theropod dinosaurs, and the avian eye resembles that of other sauropsids, with ciliary muscles that can change...
killdeer forages during the night, depending on the lunar cycle. When the moon is full, it feeds more at night and roosts more during the day. Foraging at night...
advantage for nectar foraging from specialized flowers, consequently leading the bee hummingbird to more successfully compete for flower foraging against insects...
hypothesised that the Azores noctules' diurnal foraging behaviour may be due to the absence of avian predators in the Azores. Azores noctules still seem...
predators and competitors. Uniquely complex anti-predator behaviors and foraging strategies are integral components in the long evolutionary story of the...
Mesozoic birds and of closely related non-avian theropod dinosaurs are like those of modern ground-foraging birds. Feathers have been discovered in a...
Avian malaria is a parasitic disease of birds, caused by parasite species belonging to the genera Plasmodium and Hemoproteus (phylum Apicomplexa, class...
predation pressure, increasing the crepuscular populations, and offer better foraging opportunities to predators that increasingly focus their attention on crepuscular...
the Elder in his Historia Naturalis. Two books of the Bible may address avian migration. The Book of Job notes migrations with the inquiry: "Is it by...
Michael B.; Glen, Christopher L. (November 6, 2007). "Foraging modes of Mesozoic birds and non-avian theropods". Current Biology. 17 (21): R911–R912. doi:10...
large mammals when foraging; in a similar fashion to cattle egrets, they snatch prey flushed by the cattle, so enjoy higher foraging success rates in this...
(1977). "Foraging Behavior of the White Ibis". The Wilson Bulletin. 89 (2): 342–345. JSTOR 4160923. Courser, W. D.; Dinsmore, J. J. (1975). "Foraging Associates...
penguins overlap in the at-sea areas they use whilst foraging, and show only small difference in foraging behaviours during early chick-rearing. Magellanic...
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