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Stomach contents of Brazilian non-passerine birds

Abstract

We report on the stomach contents of 70 individuals belonging to 36 species and 12 families of non-passerine birds of the Ornithological Collection Marcelo Bagno, University of Brasilia, Brazil. The stomachs, mostly collected during the rainy season and in the Cerrado area, were opened and their food items sorted to the nearest taxonomic level. Virtually all stomachs contained food items consistent with the literature. Galbula ruficauda, however, had plant material in its stomach, although it is considered insectivorous. It is interesting to mention that species considered omnivorous, such as Rhynchotus rufescens, Nothura maculosa and Ramphastos toco, contained only animal material in their stomachs. Columbina talpacoti, Leptotila verreauxi and Leptotila rufaxilla, which can supplement their diet with arthropods, ate only vegetable material, reinforcing items of animal origin as unusual in their diet. Geotrygon montana, C. talpacoti, L. verreauxi, N. maculosa, Aratinga aurea and Aratinga cactorum had stones in their stomachs, which can help to macerate food items. This study covers non-passerines poorly sampled in the literature and can assist in improving the knowledge about the diet of these species

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