Laboratório de Tecnologia Educacional BIBLIOTECA DIGITAL               DE CIÊNCIAS

33 cm. The tail is very long. It is all black. The bill is thick and strong. The skin is also black. Male and female are similar. Distribution: From Florida (U.S.A) to Argentina. Habitat: Inhabits open landscapes with grass. Prefers moist places. Diet: Consumes arthropods, mainly grasshoppers, and small vertebrates as lizards, mice and frogs. Also eats hatchlings. Fishes in shallow water. In some seasons, mostly in the dry ones when arthropods are scarce it eats fruits and seeds. Follows cattle and tractors in order to catch insects displaced by their movements. Reproduction: The male dances around the female on the ground. It offers food as a gift for the female but sometimes sw...

44 cm. The tail is long and there is a topknot. The ventral region is white. The wings are dark brown with black and white streaks. Distribution: From the state of Amapá to Uruguay. Habitat: Open fields, cerrado and caating, also in landscapes modified by man. Diet: Feeds on arthropods and small vertebrates. Reproduction: The nest may be individual or collective. It is built about 5m from the ground. The female lays up to 7 eggs, but there may be more than 20 eggs in collective nests. In the collective nests there is great competition for food among the hatchlings and few them survive. Natural history: When perched it waves its tail, swinging the body in a way that some peop...

60 cm. The tail is very long. The general color is reddish brown. The tail feathers are pale in their tips and in the inferior side. The head has a lighter coloration. The chest is gray. The young individuals have shorter tails. Distribution: From Mexico to Argentina. Habitat: Lives in the canopy of secondary forests, cerrado and urban areas with plenty of trees. Diet: Feeds on grasshoppers, bugs, caterpillars, spiders, etc. Also feeds on small vertebrates as treefrogs. Reproduction: In the breeding season the male sings restlessly 96 times a minute. Before mating gives the female a caterpillar. The nest looks like a frying pan made of loosely crossed branches and is placed in a tall...