Barn-owls are one of the two families of owls, the other being the true owls or typical owls, Strigidae. They are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons. They also differ from the Strigidae in structural details relating in particular to the sternum and feet.
The common starling, also known as the European starling in North America and simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm (8 in) long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of the year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.
The tree swallow is a migratory bird of the family Hirundinidae. Found in the Americas, the tree swallow was first described in 1807 by French ornithologist Louis Vieillot as Hirundo bicolor. It has since been moved to its current genus, Tachycineta, within which its phylogenetic placement is debated. The tree swallow has glossy blue-green upperparts, with the exception of the blackish wings and tail, and white underparts. The bill is black, the eyes dark brown, and the legs and feet pale brown. The female is generally duller than the male, and the first-year female has mostly brown upperparts, with some blue feathers. Juveniles have brown upperparts, and gray-brown-washed breasts. The tree swallow breeds in the US and Canada. It winters along southern US coasts south, along the Gulf Coast, to Panama and the northwestern coast of South America, and in the West Indies.
Brood parasitism is a subclass of parasitism and phenomenon and behavioural pattern of animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The strategy involves a form of aggressive mimicry called Kirbyan mimicry.
Hippoboscidae, the louse flies or keds, are obligate parasites of mammals and birds. In this family, the winged species can fly at least reasonably well, though others with vestigial or no wings are flightless and highly apomorphic. As usual in their superfamily Hippoboscoidea, most of the larval development takes place within the mother's body, and pupation occurs almost immediately.
The Streblidae are a family of flies in the superfamily Hippoboscoidea, and together with their relatives the Nycteribiidae, are known as bat flies. They are winged or wingless ectoparasites of bats, and often have long legs. They appear to be host-specific, with different species of bat flies occurring only on particular species of bat hosts, sometimes with multiple species of flies sharing a host bat.
Braulidae, or bee lice, is a family of true flies (Diptera) with seven species in two genera, Braula and Megabraula. They are found in honey bee colonies due to their phoretic, inquiline, and kleptoparasitic relationships with the bees. Similar in appearance but not closely related to keds, these flies are also small, wingless, and occasionally mistaken for mites or lice, hence their common name.
The Chamaemyiidae are a small family of acalyptrate flies with less than 200 species described worldwide. The larvae of these small flies are active and predatory and are often used for biological control of aphids, scale insects, and similar pests. Chamaemyiid fossils are poorly represented in amber deposits, but a few examples are known from the Eocene epoch onwards.
Carnidae, also known as bird flies or filth flies, is a family of flies (Diptera). There are 6 genera, containing about 93 species worldwide.
Milichiidae are a family of flies. Most species are very small and dark. Details of their biology have not yet been properly studied, but they are best known as kleptoparasites of predatory invertebrates, and accordingly are commonly known as freeloader flies or jackal flies. However, because of the conditions under which many species breed out, they also are known as filth flies.
A fecal sac is a mucous membrane, generally white or clear with a dark end, that surrounds the feces of some species of nestling birds. It allows parent birds to more easily remove fecal material from the nest. The nestling usually produces a fecal sac within seconds of being fed; if not, a waiting adult may prod around the youngster's cloaca to stimulate excretion. Young birds of some species adopt specific postures or engage in specific behaviors to signal that they are producing fecal sacs. For example, nestling curve-billed thrashers raise their posteriors in the air, while young cactus wrens shake their bodies. Other species deposit the sacs on the rim of the nest, where they are likely to be seen by parent birds.
The screaming cowbird is an obligate brood parasite belonging to the family Icteridae and is found in South America. It is also known commonly as the short billed cowbird.
Lipoptena is a genus of flies in the family Hippoboscidae, known as louse flies or keds
Crataerina pallida, the swift lousefly, is a species of biting fly in the family of louse flies Hippoboscidae. These flies are commonly encountered in the nests of the common swift in Europe and Asia.
Melophagus is a genus of flies in the family Hippoboscidae. All are wingless.
Philornis downsi, also known as the avian vampire fly, is a species of fly that was first recorded in Trinidad and Brazil in the 1990s. It has been accidentally introduced to the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador). Adults of P. downsi feed on fruit. Eggs are laid in bird nests and hatch into parasitic larvae that reside in the nest material and emerge at night to feed both internally and externally on the blood and flesh of developing nestlings. The parasite causes significant mortality in Darwin's finch nestlings and threatens the survival of some rarer species such as the mangrove finch and the medium tree finch. To protect the threatened finch populations, insecticide-laced cotton has been supplied as nesting material for the finches, with the results being highly successful in combating P. downsi infestations at a localized scale. Currently, Biological pest control agents, including Conuraannulifera, are being investigated for their potential safety and efficacy in eradicating P. downsi on the Galapagos Islands.
Braula is a genus of flies (Diptera) in the family Braulidae. These are very unusual flies, wingless and flattened, and barely recognizable as Diptera. Braula coeca Nitzsch is a pest of honey bees. The larvae tunnel through the wax honeycomb and the adults are found on the bodies of honey bees. There is some debate whether the bee louse causes damage to the honey bee. These flies sometimes can be found at places where bees congregate such as flowers or salt licks, waiting to grab onto hosts from uninfested nests. Braula is cosmopolitan and about 1.6 mm in length.
Philornis is a genus of around 50 species of fly from Central and South America. Their larvae are subcutaneous parasites of nestling birds. They are sometimes referred to as "bot flies", though they are not related to true bot flies.
Carnus is a genus of flies (Diptera) with 5 described species, all of which are parasites of birds. The adult flies locate a suitable host nest, then shed their wings and feed on the blood of the developing nestlings. Mature female flies lay their eggs in the nest, where their larvae develop on organic detritus.
The nest protection hypothesis (NPH) is one of multiple hypotheses that seek to explain the behaviour of birds repeatedly introducing green, often aromatic, plant material into the nest after its completion and throughout the incubation and nestling periods. The hypothesis suggests that this behaviour is an evolutionary strategy to ward off or kill ectoparasites that would otherwise cause higher nestling mortality through blood loss and the spread of pathogens. The aromatic species of greenery are often collected from trees and long-living shrubs containing strong aromatic compounds which are expected to either disrupt olfaction in host seeking parasites or kill harmful parasites and pathogens.
Barn owl, heavily spotted
Barn owl, medium coloration
Barn owl, weakly spotted
