OPPORTUNISTIC FEEDING ON FLY MAGGOTS BY SPOTTED WREN (CAMPYLORHYNCHUS GULARIS)

Abstract

We document and provide photographic evidence of a group of spotted wrens (Campylorhynchus gularis), a Mexican endemic, obtaining Chrysomya carrion fly maggots inside of a sheep carcass in a disturbed xeric scrubland in the Barranca de Metztitlan Biosphere Reserve, Hidalgo, Mexico. We document for the first time the consumption of maggots that were inside a livestock carcass as food resource for the genus Campylorhynchus. This evidence indicates the potential of the genus Campylorhynchus for the use of ecological subsidies derived from human activity.