Fruits flavor, birds

Fruit flavor, consumption and seed dispersal by birds... 

Many fruits attract birds by colors, odors, and taste. After consuming the fruit, the birds will disperse the seeds to new habitat. Preference orders exist, and some fruits are rarely eaten by birds (see p. 306). For instance, the flavor of buckthorn, Rhamnus cathartica, ranked lowest of 11 fruit extracts tested in blackbirds, Turdus merula, and a song thrush, Turdusphilomelus (Sorensen, 1983). Least preferred fruits contain toxins that deter birds, perhaps to avoid seeds being dispersed to unfavorable habitat. For instance, it is disadvantageous for forest... 

All have their own distinctive flavors and crop successively through the summer and fall. An orchard is also a magnet for wildlife, especially pollinating insects such as bees and hoverflies, birds such as redwing blackbirds, butterflies, and small mammals, which all feed on fallen fruit. Once the trees mature, countless invertebrates and insects will feed on and live in any dead wood, and birds such nuthatches, woodpeckers, and tree creepers will nest in hollow trunks. 

Carotenoids are natural pigments synthesized by plants and some microorganisms. Humans and animals are not able to synthesize and need to acquire them by alimentation [1]. These compounds are widely distributed in fruits, flowers, roots, seaweeds, invertebrates, fishes, birds, bacteria, fungi, and yeasts [2-4]. They are responsible for the red, yellow, and orange colors, but green, purple, or blue color could be obtained when carotenoids are botmd with some proteins [1]. Such molecules act as photosynthesis aid and for the photoprotection of their hosts [2-4]. Due to this, it is used in food and feed as colorant, flavoring, and nutritional supplement, being source of provitamin A. 

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