Sharpbill
Encyclopedia
The Sharpbill is a small drab bird. Its range is from the mountainous areas of tropical South America
and southern Central America
(Panama
and Costa Rica
).
It inhabits the canopy of wet forest and feeds on fruit
and some invertebrate
s. It has an orange erectile crest, black-spotted yellowish underparts and scaling on the head and neck. As its name implies, it has a sharp bill.
Sharpbills are most commonly found in tall dense forests but occasionally venture to the forest edge. Their diet consists of primarily of fruit, but they will also take insects, hanging upside down in from twigs to obtain insect larva
e. They will also travel in mixed-species feeding flock
s with ovenbirds
, tanager
s, woodpecker
s and cotinga
s. The nest of the Sharpbill is built by the female and is a small cup built on a slender branch. Chicks are fed by regurgitation.
It is often considered to be the sole member of the passerine
bird family Oxyruncidae. Recent genetic
evidence suggests it belongs in the family Tityridae
, but, as recommended by SACC, it is retained as incertae sedis
until this placement is confirmed by additional data.
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and southern Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
(Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
and Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
).
It inhabits the canopy of wet forest and feeds on fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
and some invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s. It has an orange erectile crest, black-spotted yellowish underparts and scaling on the head and neck. As its name implies, it has a sharp bill.
Sharpbills are most commonly found in tall dense forests but occasionally venture to the forest edge. Their diet consists of primarily of fruit, but they will also take insects, hanging upside down in from twigs to obtain insect larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e. They will also travel in mixed-species feeding flock
Mixed-species feeding flock
A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species, that join each other and move together while foraging...
s with ovenbirds
Ovenbird (family)
Ovenbirds or furnariids are a large family of small suboscine passerine birds found in Mexico, and Central and South America. They form the family Furnariidae...
, tanager
Tanager
The tanagers comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has an American distribution.There were traditionally about 240 species of tanagers, but the taxonomic treatment of this family's members is currently in a state of flux...
s, woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
s and cotinga
Cotinga
The cotingas are a large family of passerine bird species found in Central America and tropical South America. Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, which mostly eat fruit or insects and fruit. Comparatively little is known about this diverse group, although all have broad bills with...
s. The nest of the Sharpbill is built by the female and is a small cup built on a slender branch. Chicks are fed by regurgitation.
It is often considered to be the sole member of the passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird family Oxyruncidae. Recent genetic
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
evidence suggests it belongs in the family Tityridae
Tityridae
Tityridae is family of suboscine passerine birds found in forest and woodland in the Neotropics. The approximately 30 species in this family were formerly spread over the families Tyrannidae, Pipridae and Cotingidae . As yet, no widely accepted common name exists for the family, although Tityras...
, but, as recommended by SACC, it is retained as incertae sedis
Incertae sedis
, is a term used to define a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Uncertainty at specific taxonomic levels is attributed by , , and similar terms.-Examples:*The fossil plant Paradinandra suecica could not be assigned to any...
until this placement is confirmed by additional data.
