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Birds are animals that can have a carnivorous, scavenging or herbivorous diet, and each one has special adaptations to be able to obtain and even process food. In this opportunity we will thoroughly review herbivorous birds, as well as their characteristics and some examples. Join us in this EcologíaVerde article where you will understand the classification of birds according to their diet, in this case, the herbivorous birds with examples and characteristics.

Herbivorous birds are all those that they eat vegetables in any of its presentations, from nectar to grains.

All herbivorous birds have the following characteristics in common:

• Bill adapted to a herbivorous diet: The first step to identify a herbivorous bird is to recognize its beak. Birds lack teeth and only have this structure to process their food, so their beaks are highly specialized.
• Digestive system adapted to herbivorous diet: a carnivorous animal does not process the same as a herbivorous one, because the digestive enzymes are particular to the components of the food origin. For example, a scavenger bird can break down bacteria and rotting meat inside its stomach, but a herbivorous bird cannot. On the other hand, birds that feed on leaves and stems can break down cellulose well, a very hard plant component that cannot be processed by carnivores. We tell you what are the scavenger animals: examples in this this EcologíaVerde post.
• fast digestion: birds have a particularly short intestine compared to other animals, so their digestion is also faster.
• Small size: Herbivorous birds do not need to have a large body, as do birds of prey that can prey even on mammals.

Do not hesitate to take a look at the following EcologíaVerde article on herbivorous animals: what they are and examples.

Plants are complex organisms made up of several parts. This is why there is no single type of herbivorous bird, but the classification of herbivorous birds can be based on:

• nectarivores: they feed on the nectar that flows from the flowers, composed mainly of sugars. Plants produce this liquid inside the so-called nectaries with a very particular function: to attract animals and insects to be able to pollinate. This creates a close and mutually beneficial relationship between the two. We tell you more about what nectar is and its function in this article that we recommend.
• granivores: they feed on cereals, which are those plants that produce grains, such as wheat or corn. Let us remember that the grains are fruits attached to the seed and with husk. Birds that consume this type of food have a crop, a structure located in the esophagus with the function of softening and moistening this hard food. Further down, near the stomach, they have another structure for processing grains called the gizzard, which contains small stones with which they grind until the grains are finely ground.

All granivorous birds obtain gizzard stones by eating them directly from their environment, so note that granivorous birds must supplement their diet with small stones. Following with the classification of herbivorous birds we met with:

• Semillivores: They feed mainly on plant seeds. Their digestive system is similar to that of granivores: they also have a gizzard and a crop to be able to process hard foods well. It is common for seed-eating birds to also feed on grains, but we make the distinction to avoid confusion between seeds and grains.
• frugivores: they are the herbivorous birds that look for fruits to feed themselves, such as the berries of the forests. They are important elements of green areas because they disperse seeds through their feces, helping plants to reach very distant places. This type of dispersal by animals is called zoochory. Do not hesitate to consult this post with more frugivorous animals: characteristics and list of examples.
• waysucker: refers to a single group of birds that feeds on tree sap, a liquid found in plant tissues through which essential elements for plants are transported, such as minerals, sugars, and of course, the Water.

Herbivorous birds can be classified by their predominant type of feeding of those we have just reviewed, but it should be clarified that it is common for them to supplement the diet with occasional insect consumption or with some other type of additional herbivorous diet. Said complementation depends on the availability of resources and varies according to the season of the year.

Now that you know what their classification is, let’s see some examples of this type of herbivorous bird.

Leafsuckers (Sphyrapicus spp.)

These types of herbivorous birds are relatives of woodpeckers and they have the same head with red feathers. Just like them, they have the ability to peck the bark of the tree, but they do it mainly to suck the sap.

They can occasionally supplement their diet with insects They are also attracted to this liquid, with fruits and seeds. They can become serious pests due to the damage they inflict on living trees.

Pigeons (family Columbidae)

Today pigeons are city animals and urbanized areas, they even become pests and major disease carriers. These urbanized pigeons have learned to consume anything they can find in the trash or on the paved ground. These pigeons can breed all year round due to the continuous availability of food, unlike non-domestic pigeons.

On the contrary, wild pigeons are properly seed-eaters and granivores, eating legumes and grains of corn or barley. They can occasionally complete their diet by eating fruits, snails or slugs.

Hummingbirds (family Trochilidae)

hummingbirds they are nectarivores and its elongated beak is perfectly designed to fit inside the bell-shaped flowers. Inside this beak they have the equally long tongue with which they drink the floral nectar.

These tiny herbivorous birds have a very fast metabolism due to the energy demands of their rapid wingbeats that allow them to suspend in the air, something that other birds cannot do. They need to eat 8 times an hour to stay functional.

After knowing these examples of herbivorous birds, do not hesitate to consult this other EcologíaVerde post on the Classification of birds to have more information on the subject.