Academic literature on the topic 'Birds of prey in art'

Numerous images embedded in the painted decorations in early modern Central and Eastern European synagogues conveyed allegorical messages to the congregation. The symbolism was derived from biblical verses, stories, legends, and prayers, and sometimes different allegories were combined to develop coherent stories. In the present case study, which concerns a bird, seemingly a nocturnal raptor, depicted on the ceiling of the Unterlimpurg Synagogue, I explore the symbolism of this image in the contexts of liturgy, eschatology, and folklore. I undertake a comparative analysis of paintings in medieval and early modern illuminated manuscripts—both Christian and Jewish—and in synagogues in both Eastern and Central Europe. I argue that in some Hebrew illuminated manuscripts and synagogue paintings, nocturnal birds of prey may have been positive representations of the Jewish people, rather than simply a response to their negative image in Christian literature and art, but also a symbol of redemption. In the Unterlimpurg Synagogue, the night bird of prey, combined with other symbolic elements, represented a complex allegoric picture of redemption, possibly implying the image of King David and the kabbalistic nighttime prayer Tikkun Ḥaẓot. This case study demonstrates the way in which early modern synagogue painters created allegoric paintings that captured contemporary religious and mystical ideas and liturgical developments.

Introduction. The popularity of images of birds of prey in Scythian art makes us pay more attention to the place of birds of prey in the life of the Scythian world. Birds of prey were actively used in the hunting practice, and hunting with hunting birds was an elite form of hunting common in open spaces. Materials. The first information about nurseries of hunting birds belongs to ancient China of the 7th century BC. Images of hunting birds appear on Hittite basreliefs of the 13th century BC. They are also known in the Assyria of the time of Sargon II. Analysis. The active participation of the Scythians in political events in the Middle East allows us to assume that the Scythians are familiar with this method of hunting. In Scythian culture, there are a series of images of attacking birds, which should be seen as naturalistic sketches. Results. The abundance of bone remains of hunting birds in the cultural layers of Scythian settlements and the presence of a burial of a man with a Falcon in the materials of the Elizavetovskoe hillfort directly indicates the use of hunting birds in the South Easten European continent steppe as early as the 4th century BC.

Although tropical forest birds are known to prey upon small lizards and frogs, no study has documented the attributes of vertebrate-eating birds or whether birds prey opportunistically on the different elements of the herpetofauna within tropical communities. This study is based on a 14-mo investigation on avian diet, supplemented with a 3-y census of frogs and a 1-y census of lizards in a humid forest of central Panama. From 91 bird species, 1086 regurgitates were collected, in which were found 75 lizards and 53 frogs. Over 50% of the common, primarily insectivorous bird species preyed upon lizards or frogs, with a mean frequency of 0.26 prey/sample. These birds (22 species, nine families) foraged on various substrates from different strata of the forest, fed on invertebrates averaging from 3.3 to 17.2 mm in length, weighed from 11 to 195 g, and had bill lengths that varied from 12.2 to 49.8 mm. Based on a logistic regression analysis, intensity of foraging at army-ant swarms was the variable that best explained the likelihood that a bird species preyed upon lizards, leading to a classification that was 91% correct. In contrast, bill length and body length classified correctly 88% of the frog-eating birds, which showed a fairly constant 1:7 bill length/body length ratio (as opposed to a mean but highly variable 1:10 ratio in other species). A multiple regression analysis showed that seasonal variation in intensity of lizard predation was positively related to arthropod abundance except during the breeding season when lizard intake decreased, presumably because nesting birds did not follow ant swarms. Intensity of frog predation correlated with frog abundance over time, the latter being inversely related to arthropod availability. Ninety-seven per cent of all lizards and frogs identified in the diet samples (n = 105) were from two genera, Anolis and Eleutherodactylus, respectively. Prey size distribution in the regurgitates suggested an optimal prey size of 33.5 mm snout-vent length (SVL) for lizards and 14.5 mm SVL for frogs. Birds preyed opportunistically on the different Anolis species, but almost exclusively upon juvenile individuals. Abundances of the different Eleutherodactylus species correlated with their predation rates, but these frogs represented only 10% of all the frogs observed during the censuses. The two most common local anurans, Colostethus flotator and Bufo typhonius, were not taken by any bird species.

Army ants (Formicidae: Ecitoninae) are top predators in neotropical forests. Army ant raids support a community of diverse organisms, including birds that attend the raids to collect prey. While elevation and forest fragmentation influence army ant and insectivorous bird communities, their effects on the interaction between army ants and bird species is unknown. We studied the size and species composition of bird flocks attending army ant swarms in forest fragments and continuous forest across an elevational gradient (1100–1680 m asl) in a neotropical montane region (Monteverde, Costa Rica). We observed a total of 41 bird species attending army ant swarms. Neither the number of birds, nor the total body mass of birds, nor the number of bird species in attending bird flocks was related to elevation. However, we found a higher bird species richness, larger flock size and greater total body mass of birds attending army ant swarms in continuous forest. Continuous and fragmented forest shared many attending bird species in common, but there was elevational segregation of attending bird species. Some montane endemic birds, and neotropical migrants, attend swarms regularly and use army ant raids as a food source.

In the definitive publication of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, R. L. S. Bruce-Mitford comments that the figural scenes on the purse-lid may be thought to have had a special significance known to those who commissioned them and to those who saw the purse, because they appear as part of the design on an important item of the regalia. However, the meaning of the pair of plaques which show a bird of prey grasping a smaller bird (pl. VIIa) has not yet been satisfactorily analysed. Bruce-Mitford states that no close parallels to the scene can be cited. Haseloff, in a study of the purse plaques, considers that they show the general influence of Mediterranean representational art upon the Germanic tendency towards abstraction, with the bird pairs being the adoption and stylization of a foreign theme. Werner, in a discussion of Lombardic shield mounts, suggests that the Sutton Hoo birds represent Christian ornament and therefore associates the purse with the other supposedly Christian elements in the burial. But no really convincing background for the birds has been found. This is in contrast to the other figural plaques, the man between beasts and the interlacing quadrupeds, which both belong to groups of designs of more familiar type. It is the purpose of this article to provide some sources for the bird plaques and to attempt to interpret the special significance behind the use of this design on an item of the regalia.

The diet of the Australian Hobby Falco longipennis was studied in Canberra (ACT), in the summers of 2002–2003 to 2004–2005 and 2005–2006 to 2008–2009 by analysis of prey remains and pellets (28 and 40 collections for a total of 229 and 132 prey items from six and four nests, respectively). The Hobbies’ breeding diet in the first period consisted of 73% birds, 1% microbats and 26% insects by number, and 98% birds, <1% microbats and 1% insects by biomass, mainly parrots (Psittaculidae), Common Starlings Sturnus vulgaris and sparrows Passer sp. In the second period, it consisted of 94% birds, 3% mammals (mostly microbats), 2% lizards and <1% insects by number, and was more dominated by Starlings and other introduced birds, with the change perhaps reflecting a recent decline in local insect abundance. The Hobby’s dietary metrics correspondingly shifted to a greater Geometric Mean Prey Weight and narrower food niche. The Hobby’s diet overlapped moderately (42%) with that of the similarly sized Collared Sparrowhawk Accipiter cirrocephalus in the ACT over the same timeframe, although the two are separated by foraging habitats and methods.

ABSTRACTForaging and attendance of birds at army-ant swarm raids were studied in the tropical rain forest of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. Sixty-eight raiding swarms were intercepted over a four-year period of which 57% were Eciton burchelli and 43% Labidus praedator. A total of 461 birds (37 species/12 families) were recorded at swarms of E. burchelli and 208 birds (34 species/10 families) were recorded at L. praedator swarms. The mean number of bird species detected per swarm was 7.2 at E. burchelli raids and 5.6 at L. praedator raids. Red-throated ant-tanagers (Habia fuscicauda) were most frequently seen at the swarms of both army-ant species. Other important species were the golden-crowned warbler (Basileuterus culicivorus), the white-breasted wood wren (Henicorhina leucosticta) and the Kentucky warbler (Oporornis formosus). Swarms of both army-ant species were active year-round. Birds weighing between 20 and 40 g dominated perches closest to the ground and the central zone of the swarms, richest in animal prey. Birds weighing less than 20 g occupied higher perches and tended to forage in more peripheral zones. At Los Tuxtlas raiding swarms of army ants are important in the foraging ecology of 44 bird species, including 12 North American migrants.

Abstract Birds of prey and from Psittacidae family are host to fungal microbiota and play an important role in the epidemiology of zoonoses. Few studies in the literature have characterized mycelial and yeast fungi in the droppings of these birds and correlated the isolates with the zoonotic potential of the microorganisms. Droppings from 149 birds were evaluated and divided into two groups: captive: Rhea americana araneipes, Primolius maracana, Ara ararauna, Ara chloropterus, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, Amazona aestiva, Ara macao macao, Ramphastos toco, Sarcoramphus papa, Busarellus nigricollis, Bubo virginianus nacurutu, Buteogallus coronatus, Buteogallus urubitinga urubitinga, Spizaetus melanoleucus, Spizaetus ornatus ornatus, Buteo albonotatus, Geranoaetus albicaudatus albicaudatus, Rupornis magnirostris magnirostris and Harpia harpyja, and quarantined birds: Amazona aestiva and Eupsitulla aurea. The fungal isolates were identified according to macroscopic (gross colony appearance), micromorphological and biochemical characteristics. Among birds displayed in enclosures, Aspergillus niger (41.1%) and Candida kefyr (63.8%) were the fungi most frequently isolated in Harpia harpyja and Ramphastos toco, respectively. For quarantined birds, the following percentages were observed in Eupsittula aurea , (76.6%) C. krusei, (84.4%) C. kefyr and (15.2%) C. famata, while in Amazona aestiva, (76.2%) C. krusei was observed. These findings indicate potentially pathogenic species in the bird droppings assessed, which constitute a risk of exposure for keepers and individuals who visit the zoo. Birds of the Cerrado and Pantanal of Mato Grosso (Central Western region of Brazil) could act in the epidemiological chain of important zoonoses.

The biodiversity in aquatic systems are indirectly controlled by their nutrient dynamics. The abundance of phytoplanktons and zooplanktons depends on the availability of nutrients such as nitrates, phosphates and silicates since these are the building blocks for their further growth. The phytoplanktons act as prey for the next higher trophic level including various fishes and other small organisms. One of the factors that enchant the migratory birds at some particular locations is the availability of the species of organisms that they prey on. In this paper a preliminary analysis is done to explore the nutrient dynamics of selected tropical aquatic systems in order to correlate the arrival of migratory birds at those locations. Water samples are collected from coastal region of Aleppey, Purakkad and Koonthankulam Bird Sancturay. The latter two sites are the important destination of many migratory water birds including Pallus Gull, Heuglins Gull, Bar-headed goose, Comb Duck and Spot Billed Pelican. The samples are analyzed chemically to trace the nutrient compositions and the related chemical parameters such as temperature, pH, conductivity, primary productivity, chloride, salinity, turbidity, nitrate, phosphate, dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand. Remarkable differences are observed mainly in the composition of phosphate, organic matter content and salinity. Finally, an attempt has been done to correlate the biodiversity of these locations with the chemical parameters and the prevailing nutrient compositions. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i1.9943 International Journal of Environment Vol.3(1) 2014: 68-77