Animals and animals and more animals

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Across
  1. 3. Colorful dabbling duck on ponds.
  2. 5. Dark-feathered thinker, messenger of omens.
  3. 6. Speckled songster in murmuration gatherings.
  4. 8. Graceful aerial acrobat with forked tail.
  5. 10. Amphibian croaker in marshy habitats.
  6. 12. Cunning red-coated den dweller, sly.
  7. 15. Slinky hunter in fur coat disguise.
  8. 17. Sleek, playful swimmer of the seas.
Down
  1. 1. Swift, long-eared runner in fields.
  2. 2. Tail-wagging songbird, riverbank visitor.
  3. 4. Coastal scavenger, master of flight.
  4. 5. Crow cousin, adept in aerial acrobatics.
  5. 6. Elegant wader, bearer of newborns.
  6. 7. Upside-down forager, tree trunk climber.
  7. 9. Venomous serpent, stealthy forest dweller.
  8. 11. Silent-winged nocturnal hunter of rodents.
  9. 13. Stream-dwelling, whiskered aquatic mammal.
  10. 14. Monochrome chatterer, collector of trinkets.
  11. 15. Pack predator, howler of the forests.
  12. 16. Majestic antlered grazer of open lands.