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Birds
Temporal range: Upper Jurassic
Recent
Scarlet macaw (Ara macao)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
(unranked): Archosauria
Class: Aves
Linnaeus, 1758
BirdFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birds are a class of vertebrates, the Aves.[1]
They are warm-blooded and lay eggs. Their bodies are covered
withfeathers and they have wings. Feathers have three functions:
flight,temperature regulation and display. Most birds have hollow
main bones with
air sacs in them.[2] This makes them lighter and makes flight
easier.
Birds are bipedal: they have two legs which are often covered
with scales(small, flat plates which over-lap in the same way as
feathers). They have ahard beak with no teeth.
Because birds keep a high body temperature, they use lots of
energy. So,they need to eat a lot of food compared with their
weight.
More than 9000 different species of birds are known.[3]
Birds are found on every continent of the world. Birds of
different types canlive in freezing cold environments, and others
can live in hot deserts. Birdslive in forests, in grasslands, on
cliff faces, in river banks, on stony seashores, down mine shafts
and in the roofs of houses.
Different types of birds eat different foods. Most birds are
carnivorousmeaning that they eat flesh, at least some of the time.
Many birds live oninsects or on fish. Some eat small reptiles and
mice. Birds of prey eatmammals and other birds. Some birds are
scavengers and eat the bodies ofcreatures that have died. Many
birds such as parrots and finches live onseeds and fruit. Some
birds that eat mainly seeds feed their young on insects.A few types
of birds eat green plants, but only one species lives on leaves(the
hoatzin). Hummingbirds and honeyeaters live on the nectar or honey
inflowers.
Birds come in many sizes from the bee hummingbird that is only
60 mm longto the ostrich which stands 2.5 metres high. The bird
with the widest wingspan is the wandering albatross many ofwhich
measure 3 metres from tip to tip.
All this applies to living birds. Birds are the descendants of
theropod dinosaurs, and the early birds looked muchlike small
carnivorous dinosaurs. Much is now known about the origin of birds.
From fossils we know that these
dinosaurs had feathers, and early birds had teeth.[4][5]
Contents
1 Body shape
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2 Bird colours
2.1 Bird camouflage
2.2 Noticeable colours
3 Flight
3.1 Types of flight
3.2 Flightless birds4 Behaviour
4.1 Mating
4.2 Nesting
4.3 Hatching
4.4 Families
4.5 Flocks
4.6 Communication
4.6.1 Lorenz's studies
4.6.2 Songbirds
4.6.3 The Jackdaw of Altenberg
5 Evolution and taxonomy5.1 The first bird-like creatures
6 Birds and people7 Gallery of well-known small birds
8 References9 Other websites
Body shape
Because birds live on every continent and have adapted to all
sorts of conditions, different types of birds look verydifferent
from each other. The most noticeable differences are the size, the
shape of the beak, the length of the legs,the length of the neck
and the colour.
The smallest types of birds are tiny birds that feed on nectar,
honey and insects. The biggest birds are flightlessbirds with long
legs ostriches, emus and cassowaries. However, very large birds are
also found soaring high in thesky eagles, vultures, albatross and
pelicans. One way to understand the living habits of a bird is to
look at its legsand feet, its beak, its neck and its wings.
If a bird has very long legs, then it probably spends most of
its time walking, like a crane, or wading (walking inwater), like a
flamingo. Birds with long legs need long necks to match, so they
can reach their food. Birds with shortlegs and long necks like
pelicans, geese and swans are birds that swim well and dive their
heads into the water forfood. Their beaks are often flat for
scooping up water weeds. A pelican's beak can change into a shape
like a hugebucket for catching fish.
Birds that are shaped like torpedoes are good at diving.
Albatross, seagulls and kingfishers all have long strongbeaks for
catching fish. Some birds, such as eagles, owls vultures and hawks,
have beaks which are hooked andvery large claws (also called
"talons") with which they can tear and carry meat.
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Grey partridge
Some birds have very long thin beaks that they use for dipping
into flowers or poking into holes in the ground.These include
hummingbirds, bee eaters and avocets. Some birds have short beaks
but wide mouths that areperfect for catching insects in the air,
like swallows, swifts and nightjars. Some birds that eat fruit,
like toucans andhornbills, have beaks which are enormous, but are
very light in weight. The curved beaks of parrots are good
foreating large seeds and cracking nuts, while birds that peck
small seeds and food from the ground have short beakslike
pigeons.
An Ostrich has very longlegs.
A Pelican has a hugebeak.
The Great Hornbill is alarge bird with anunusual beak,
photoW.Berns
Hummingbirds areamong the world'ssmallest birds.
Bird colours
Birds come in a huge range of colours. These colours can be
useful to a bird in two ways. Camouflage colours helpto hide the
bird, and bright colours identify the bird to others of the same
species. Often the male is brightlycoloured while the female is
camouflaged.
Bird camouflage
Many birds are brown, green or grey. These colours make a
birdharder to see; they camouflage the bird. Brown is the most
commoncolour. Brown birds include sparrows, emus, thrushes, larks,
eagles,falcons and the female birds of many species such as wrens,
ducks,blackbirds and peacocks. When a brown bird is in long grass
or amongtree trunks or rocks, it is camouflaged. Birds that live in
long grassoften have brown feathers streaked with black which looks
likeshadows. A Bittern is almost invisible in long reeds. Other
birds,including starlings and minahs, are quite dark in colour, but
are fleckedwith little spots that look like raindrops on
leaves.
Many birds from hot countries are green or have some green
feathers, particularly parrots. Birds that live in greentrees often
have green backs, even if they have bright-coloured breasts. From
the back, the birds arecamouflaged. This is very useful when
sitting on a nest. The bird's bright-coloured breast is hidden.
Budgerigarsare bred in different colours such as blue, white and
mauve, but in the wild, they are nearly all green and yellow.
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This Scops owl is almost invisible
against the tree
Pair of Mandarin ducks. A good example
of a general rule: male birds are the showy
ones, females are dowdy
Even though they fly very well, they normally spend a lot of
time on the ground, eating grass seeds. Their yellow andblack
striped back helps to hide them in the shadows made by long dry
grass, while their green breasts are a similarcolour to the leaves
of gum trees.
Grey birds include most pigeons and doves, cranes, storks and
herons. Grey birds are often rock-living birds likepigeons, or
birds that sit on dead tree trunks looking like a broken branch.
Water birds like herons often have apale grey colour which makes it
harder for a fish to notice that the birdis standing, looking down
for something to catch. Water birds, nomatter what colour they are
on top, are often white underneath, so thatwhen a fish looks up,
the bird looks like part of the sky.
Black birds include crows, ravens and male blackbirds. Some
birdsthat are dark colours spend quite a lot of time on the ground,
hoppingaround in the shadows under bushes. Among these birds are
the maleblackbird and the Satin Bowerbird which is not black but
very darkblue. Crows and ravens often perch high on bare trees in
the winter,where their black shape against the sky looks like the
dark barebranches.
Noticeable colours
Many birds are not camouflaged, but stand out with vivid
colours.They are usually male birds whose females are dull and
camouflaged. The function of the colours is two-fold.[6] First,
thecolours help them get mates, and second, the colours identify
themto other males of the same species. Many birds are
territorial,especially in the nesting season. They give out
territory sounds andare easily seen. This lets other males know
they will defend theirterritory. It sends out a "look elsewhere"
signal to their competitors.
Some birds are famous for their colour and are named for it,
such asthe Bluebird, the Azure kingfisher, the Golden pheasant, the
Scarletmacaw, the Violet wren and the Robin.
Many other birds are very brightly coloured, in
countlesscombinations. Some of the most colourful birds are quite
common,like pheasants, peacocks, domestic fowl and parrots.
Colourful small birds include blue tits, the gold finches,humming
birds, fairy wrens and bee eaters (which are also called rainbow
birds). Some birds, like those of theBird of Paradise in Papua New
Guinea have such beautiful feathers that they have been hunted for
them.
The peacock is the best example of a display of colour to
attract a mate. Also the male domestic fowl has longshiny feathers
above his tail and also long neck feathers that may be a different
colour to his wings and body. Thereare only a very few types of
birds (like the Eclectus Parrot) where the female is more colourful
than the male.
'Pied birds' are black and white. Black and white birds include
magpies, pied geese, pelicans, and Australianmagpies (which are not
really magpies at all). Pied birds often have brightly coloured
beaks and legs of yellow orred. The silver pheasant, with its long
white tail striped with fine bars of black, has a brightly coloured
face.
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King parrot, Australia
Common Shelduck
Kingfisher
Flamingo
Golden Oriole.
Himalayan bluetail
Malayan banded pitta
Flight
Most birds can fly. They do this by pushing through the air with
their wings. The curved surfaces of the wings causeair currents
(wind) which lift the bird. Flapping keeps the air current moving
to create lift and also moves the birdforward.
Some birds can glide on air currents without flapping. Many
birds use this method when they are about to land.Some birds can
also hover and remain in one place. This method is used by birds of
prey such as falcons that arelooking for something to eat. Seagulls
are also good at hovering, particularly if there is a strong
breeze. The mostexpert hovering birds are tiny hummingbirds which
can beat their wings both backwards and forwards and canstay quite
still in the air while they dip their long beaks into flowers to
feed on the sweet nectar.
A Flock of TundraSwans fly in V-formation.
This Osprey at KennedySpace Centre ishovering.
A Wandering Albatrosscan sleep while flying.
The large broad wings ofa vulture allow it to soarwithout
flapping.
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The soft feathers of anowl allow it to fly quietly.
Some birds, such as thequail, live mainly on theground.
A cassowary cannot flybut can defend itself.
Penguin's flippers aregood for swimming.
Types of flight
Different types of birds have different needs. Their wings are
adapted to suit the way they fly.
Large birds of prey, such as eagles, that spend a lot of time
soaring on the wind have wings that are large andbroad. The main
flight feathers are long and wide. They help the eagle to stay on
rising air currents without usingmuch energy, while the eagle looks
at the ground below, to find the next meal. When the eagle sees
some smallcreature move, it can close its wings and fall from the
sky like a missile, opening its great wings again to slow downas it
comes to land. The world's largest eagle, the Philippine Eagle has
a wingspan of about 2 metres (6.7 ft) wide.
Birds that live in grassland areas or open forests and feed on
fruit, insects and reptiles often spend a lot of timeflying short
journeys looking for food and water. They have wings that are
shaped in a similar way to eagles, butrounder and not as good for
soaring. These include many Australian birds like Cockatoos.
Birds, such as geese, that migrate from one country to another
fly very long distances. Their wings are big andstrong, because the
birds are large and they stock up on food for the long flight.
Migrating water birds usually formfamily groups of 12-30 birds.
They fly very high, making use of long streams of air that blow
from north to south indifferent seasons. They are very well
organised, often flying in a V pattern. The geese at the back do
not have toflap so hard; they are pulled on by the wind of the ones
at the front. Every so often, they change the leader so thatthe
front bird, who does most work and sets the pace, can have a rest.
Geese and swans are the highest-flyingbirds, reaching 8,000 metres
or more when on migration. Geese often honk loudly while they are
flying. It isthought that they do this to support the leader and
help the young ones.
Birds that fly very quickly, such as swifts and swallows, have
long narrow pointed wings. These birds need greatspeed because they
eat insects, catching most of them while they are flying. These
birds also migrate. They oftencollect in huge flocks of thousands
of birds that move together like a whirling cloud.
Birds that live in bushes and branches have triangular wings
that help the bird change direction. Many forest birdsare expert at
getting up speed by flapping and then gliding steadily among the
trees, tilting to avoid things as they go.Members of the kingfisher
family are expert at this type of flying.
Birds such as owls that hunt at night have wings with soft
rounded feathers so that they do not flap loudly. Birds thatare
awake at night are called nocturnal birds. Birds that are awake
during the day are diurnal.
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Swans are mated for life.
A Wandering Albatross and Arctic Tern might spend several years
without coming to land. They can sleep whilegliding and have wings
which, when they are stretched right out, look like the wings of a
jet plane.
Bird like chickens that feed mainly on the ground and only use
their wings to fly to safety have small wings.
Flightless birds
Some birds do not fly. These include running birds like
ostriches and emus and ocean-living birds, the large
penguinfamily.
Ostriches and emus do not need to fly because although they feed
and nest on the ground, their great size and theirspeed is their
protection. Some other ground-feeding birds have not been so lucky.
Some birds such as the Dodoand the Kiwi were ground-feeding birds
that lived in safety on islands where there was nothing dangerous
to eatthem. They lost the power of flight. Kiwis are endangered
because European settlement to New Zealand broughtanimals like
cats, dogs and rats which kill kiwis and eat their eggs. However,
Kiwis and also the rare New ZealandGround Parrot have survived. In
the case of Dodos, they were fat and delicious. They were killed
and eaten bysailors until there was none left. Other flightless
birds which have disappeared are the Great Auk and the Moa.
Penguins spend a great deal of time at sea, where they are in
danger from seals. On land, they usually live in areaswhere there
were few dangers, until the arrival of European settlers with dogs
and cats. Their wings have adaptedto life in the sea and have
become flippers which help them in swimming very fast.
Behaviour
Mating
Although birds are warm-blooded creatures like mammals, they
donot give birth to live babies. They lay eggs like lizards do.
Unlikemost reptiles, the shell of a bird's egg is hard. The baby
bird growsinside the egg and after a few weeks, breaks out, or
hatches.
Birds in cold climates usually have a breeding season once a
year inthe spring. Migratory birds can have two springs and two
matingseasons in a year. So can birds that live in hot
climates.
When the breeding season arrives, the birds choose partners.
Some birds are mated for life, like married couples.These birds
include pigeons, geese, and cranes. Other birds look for new
partners each year and sometimes a malebird or cock will have
several wives.
For birds that choose new mates, part of the breeding season is
display. The male bird will do all sorts of things toattract
females. These include singing, dancing, showing off the feathers
and building a beautiful nest. Some malebirds have splendid
feathers for attracting females. The most famous is the peacock who
can spread the feathersabove his tail into a huge fan.
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A peacock display
The Sarus Crane, likemost cranes, mates forlife and pairs
dancetogether.
Emu nest.
A nest of HouseSparrows.
Nesting
Once the birds have found partners, they find a suitable place
to lay eggs. The idea of what is a suitable placediffers between
species, but most build bird nests. Robins will make a beautiful
little round nest of woven grass andcarefully line it with
feathers, bits of fluff and other soft things. Swallows like to
nest near other swallows. Theymake nests from little blobs of clay,
often on a beam near the roof of a building where it is well
sheltered. Manybirds like a hollow tree to nest in. Eagle's nests
are often just piles of dead wood on the top of the tallest tree
ormountain. Scrub Turkeys scratch together a huge pile of leaves
that may be 10 metres across. Guillemots lay theireggs on rock
shelves with no nest at all. Their eggs are shaped so that they
roll around in circles. A cuckoo doesnot make its own nest. It lays
its egg in the nest of another bird and leaves it for them to care
for. The cuckoo eggsare camouflaged to look like the host's
eggs.
When the nest has been prepared, the birds mate so that the eggs
are fertilised and the chicks will start growing.Unlike mammals,
birds only have one opening as the exit hole for body fluids, and
for reproduction. The opening iscalled the cloaca. A female bird,
called a hen, has two ovaries, of which the left one usually
produces eggs.
Most male birds have no sex organs that can be seen. But inside
the male are two testes which produce spermwhich is stored in the
cloaca. Birds mate by rubbing their cloacas together, although with
some birds, particularlylarge water birds, the male has a sort of a
penis inside the cloaca.
Hatching
Once the hen has mated, she produces fertile eggs which have
chicks growing inside them. She lays the eggs in thenest. There
might be just one egg or a number of them, called a clutch. Emus
might lay as many as fifteen huge darkgreen eggs in a clutch. After
the eggs are laid, they are incubated, or kept warm so the chicks
form inside. Mostbirds stay together for the whole nesting season,
and one advantage is that the work is shared. Many birds taketurns
sitting on the eggs, so that each adult can feed.
This is not always the case. With Emus, the male does all the
sitting and all the baby-minding. With EmperorPenguins it is also
the male that cares for the egg. There is only one egg, which he
keeps on his feet and under hisfeathers, standing in a big group of
males without feeding until the chick is hatched. While the eggs
are hatching, thefemales are at sea, feeding, so that they can care
for the chicks when they return.
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Some birds put the eggs inside or on top of the mound of leaves
and twigs. The mound acts like a compost heap.The decomposition of
the rotting leaves causes the temperature to rise. This is heat
released by the chemical actionof bacterial and fungal respiration.
It is the same reaction as that which keeps mammals and birds at a
hightemperature. The parents leave the mound. When the chicks
hatch, they are able to feed themselves.
Many small birds take 24 weeks to hatch eggs. Albatrosses take
80 days. During this time the female loses a lotof her body
weight.
The quickest hatching time is for the Cuckoo. Some types of
cuckoos take only 10 days. This means that whenthey hatch in the
nest of their 'foster parents', the eggs that the parents have laid
are not yet ready. Newborncuckoos are naked, blind and ugly, but
they are strong. They get under any eggs that are in the nest and
throw themout before they hatch. That means that the cuckoo has the
whole care of both parents. Baby cuckoos grow fast andoften get
bigger than the parents who feed them.
When baby birds hatch, in most types of birds, they are fed by
both parents, and sometimes by older aunties aswell. Their mouths
are open all the time and are often very brightly coloured, which
acts as a 'releaser', a triggerwhich stimulates the parent to feed
them. For birds that eat grain and fruit, the parents eat and
partly digest thefood for the babies. It is then vomitted carefully
into the baby's mouth.
A Black Redstartfeeding chicks. photoStefan-Xp
Black Swan andcygnets. CC
[1](http://www.flickr.com/photos/fernando/48601074/).
A Reed Warbler feedinga baby Cuckoo. photoRavenloft
Two Sulphur CrestedCockatoos from a bigflock are on the
lookout.photo Prazak
Families
Many birds, particularly those that mate for life, are very
sociable and keep together in a family group which mightbe anything
from 4 or 6 adult birds and their young to a very large flock.
As chicks grow they change the fluffy down that covers them as
babies for real feathers. At this stage they arecalled fledglings.
Other family members may help care for fledgling chicks, feeding
them, and protecting them fromattack while parents are feeding.
When the fledglings have their new feathers, they come out of the
nest to learn tofly. In some types of birds, like pigeons, the
parents watch over this and as the young ones get stronger, will
givethem flying lessons, teaching them how to glide, how to fly in
spirals and how to land like an expert.
Flocks
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Flocks of birds can be very highly organised in a way that takes
care of all the flock members. Studies of smallflocking birds like
tree sparrows show that they clearly communicate with each other,
as sometimes thousands ofbirds may fly in close formation and
spiral patterns without colliding (or flying into each other).
Two common behaviours in flocking birds are guarding and
reconnaissance. When a flock of birds is feeding it iscommon for
one bird to perch on a high place to keep guard over the flock. In
the same way, when a flock isasleep, often, one bird will remain
awake. It is also common for large flocks to send one or two birds
ahead ofthem when they are flying to a new area. The look-out birds
can spy the lie of the land to find food, water and
good places to perch.[7]
Communication
Almost all birds make sounds to communicate. The types of noises
that they make are different. All birds have crieswhich are the
sounds to communicate. Some birds can also sing. These birds are
called songbirds. Somesongbirds are robins, larks, canaries,
thrushes, nightingales and crows. Birds that are not songbirds are
pigeons,seagulls, eagles, owls and ducks. Parrots are not
songbirds, even though they can be taught to sing human songs.
A favorite songbird, theEuropean Robin. photoM.Szczepanek
The crow of the roosteris a familiar bird call.
The Pied Currawong, anoustanding singer.
The Jackdaws helpedLorenz to understandbird communication.photo
Arpingstone
Lorenz's studies
The Austrian naturalist Konrad Lorenz studied the way in which
birds communicate, or talk to each other. He foundthat each type of
bird had a number of sounds which they made automatically, when
ever they felt a certain way.Every sound had an action that went
with it. So, if the bird was frightened, it acted frightened and
made a frightenedsound. This told the other birds around it that
something frightening was happening.
If a flock of birds were flying over a field, they would be
calling "Fly! Fly!" But a hungry bird, seeing somethinggood to eat
down below might start calling "Food! Food!" If other birds were
also hungry, they would make thesame call until more birds were
calling "Food! Food!" than "Fly! Fly!". At this point, the mind of
the flock would bechanged. Some of the birds would start to yell
"Fly downwards! Fly downwards!" as they sank from the sky, untilthe
whole flock was all noisily calling the same thing.
These communication sounds are often short hard sounds like
chirps, squeaks, squawks. and twitters. Sometimesthe calls are
longer and more musical. They include the "Rookety-coo" sound of a
pigeon and the"Cockadoodledoo!" of a rooster. The bird cannot
change these sounds. They always make them in the same way.
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The bird is locked into making each sound every time a
particular idea comes into its head. The connectionbetween how they
feel and how they call is innate: they are born with it. Some calls
in some species are learnt.Then, it is the tendency to learn which
is inherited.
Songbirds
All birds make noises ('bird vocalisation'), but not all sing.
Songbirds are passerines, many of which have beautifulmelodic
songs. Songs have different functions. Danger cries are different
from territorial songs, and mating calls area third type. Fledgling
may also have different calls from adults. Recognition calls for
partners are quite common.
As to where the song comes from, there are three kinds of
species:
1. Those where the song is entirely inherited, and the bird
always sings the same song in the same situations.
2. Those where the song is partly inherited, but the bird tunes
it in by copying others. In this case the slight
differences between the calls of different birds may be used by
partners for identification.3. Those where the song is entirely
learnt, and the bird often copies sounds from its environment.
Most singing birds that are kept as pets, like canaries, have
several tunes and some variations.
The same species of bird will sing different songs in different
regions. A good example of this is the Currawong.This is an
Australia bird which is like a black and white crow. In the autumn,
families get together in large flocks anddo a lot of singing.
Currawongs from some areas sing much more complex songs than
others. Generally,Currawongs from the Blue Mountains are the finest
singers. The song of the Currawong can be sung as a solo, butis
often performed as a choir. One bird will take the lead and sing
"Warble-warble-warble-warble!" All the otherbirds will join in and
sing "Wooooooo!" When all the birds know the song, the choir will
sing the "Warble" part andthe soloist will sing the "Woo!". The
song changes from year to year and from place to place.
The Jackdaw of Altenberg
Konrad Lorenz noticed that when birds sing, they often use a lot
of their regular calls as part of the song. Lorenzhad a flock of
Jackdaws which were scattered during World War II. One day, an old
bird returned. For manymonths she sat on the chimney singing her
song, but in the song she kept making the call which Lorenz knew
meant"Come home! Come home!" One day, to the great surprise of
Lorenz, a male bird flew from a passing flock andjoined her on the
chimney. Lorenz was sure that it was her long-lost "husband" who
had found his way home at last.
Evolution and taxonomy
Main page: Origin of birds
Palaeontologists have found some exceptional places
(lagersttten) where fossils of early birds are found.
Thepreservation is so good that on the best examples impressions of
their feathers can be seen, and sometimes even theremains of meals
they have eaten. From these remains we know that birds evolved from
small carnivorous
dinosaurs (theropods) in the Jurassic period.[8] They radiated
into a huge variety in the Lower Cretaceous. At thesame time, their
direct competitors, the pterosaurs, dwindled in numbers and
variety, and became extinct at the endof the Mesozoic.
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Archaeopteryx, the earliest known
bird
Confuciusornis, a Cretaceous bird
from China
Birds are classified by taxonomists as 'Aves' (Avialae). Birds
are the only living descendants of dinosaurs (strictlyspeaking,
they are dinosaurs). Birds and Crocodilia are the only living
members of the once-dominant Archosaurreptiles.
The class Aves is now defined as all the descendants of the most
recent common ancestor of modern birds and
Archaeopteryx lithographica.[9]
The first bird-like creatures
Archaeopteryx, from the Upper Jurassic (some 150145 million
yearsago), is the earliest bird which could fly. It is famous,
because it was oneof the first important fossils found after
Charles Darwin published hisideas about evolution in the 19th
century. By modern standards,
Archaeopteryx could not fly very well.[10] Other early fossil
birds are,for example, Confuciusornis, Anchiornis huxlei,
Microraptor, andother Paraves.
Many fossils of early birds and small dinosaurs have been
discovered inthe Liaoning Province of Northeast China. The fossils
show that smalltheropod dinosaurs had feathers. These deposits have
preserved them sowell that the impressions of their feathers can be
clearly seen. This leadsus to think that feathers evolved first as
heat insulation, and only later forflight. The origin of birds lies
in these small feathered dinosaurs.
Palaeontologists now agree that birds evolved from Maniraptora
groupof dinosaurs. This explains why some consider birds to be
livingdinosaurs.
Origin of birdsParaves
Birds and people
Canaries are often keptas pets for their beautifulsongs.
The African Grey Parrotis a renowned talker.
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Blue-winged Teal.Ducks used to be shotfor sport.
In many countries Storksare thought to bring goodluck.
Some birds are eaten as food. Most usually it is the chicken and
its eggs, but people often also eat geese,pheasants, turkeys and
ducks. Other birds are sometimes eaten are emus, ostriches,
pigeons, grouse, quails, doves,woodcocks, and even songbirds. Some
species have died out because they have been hunted for food,
forexample the Dodo, and the Passenger Pigeon.
Many species have learned how to get food from people. The
number of birds of these species has grown becauseof it. Seagulls
and crows find food from garbage dumps. The common pigeon (Columba
livia), sparrows (Passerdomesticus and starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)
live in large numbers in towns and cities all over the world.
Sometimes people also use working birds. For example homing
pigeons carry messages. Nowadays peoplesometimes race them for
sport. People also use falcons for hunting, and cormorants for
fishing. In the past, peoplein mines often used a canary to see if
there were bad gas methane in the air.
People often have colorful birds such as parrots and mynahs as
pets. These intelligent birds are popular becausethey can copy
human talking. Because of this, some people trap birds and take
them to other countries to sell. Thisis not usually allowed these
days. Most pet birds are specially bred and are sold in pet
shops.
People can catch some bird diseases, for example psittacosis,
salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, Newcastle'sdisease,
mycobacteriosis, influenza, giardiasis, and cryptosporiadiosis. In
2005, there was an epidemic of birdinfluenza spreading through some
parts of the world, often called avian flu.
Some people have birdboxes in their gardens to give birds a
place to nest and bird tables where birds can get foodand water in
very cold or very dry weather. This lets people see some small
birds close up which are normallyhidden away in bushes and
trees.
Gallery of well-known small birds
-
Blue tit
Male House sparrow
Male chaffinch
White-breasted nuthatch
References
1. That is, in the traditional Linnaean classification:
Linnaeus, Carolus (1758). Systema Naturae. Holmiae.
(LaurentiiSalvii). However, in modern terms, they are a clade
descended from coelurosaurian dinosaurs.
2. The air sacs are part of their breathing system.3. del Hoyo,
Josep; Andy Elliott & Jordi Sargatal (1992). Handbook of birds
of the World. Barcelona: Lynx Editions. .4. Milner, Angela 2002.
Dinobirds: from dinosaurs to birds. Natural History Museum,
London.5. Benton M.J. et al. 2008. The remarkable fossils from the
Lower Cretaceous Jehol biota of China and how they
have changed our knowledge of Mesozoic life. Proceedings of the
Geological Association 119, p209228.6. Cott, Hugh B. 1940. Adaptive
colouration in animals. London:Methuen.7. These two behaviours have
often been observed in the Australian Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
which has given its
name "Cocky" to the person who keeps a look-out for the police
during a burglary.8. Livezey, BC; Zusi, RL (January 2007).
"Higher-order phylogeny of modern birds (Theropoda, Aves:
Neornithes)
based on comparative anatomy. II. Analysis and discussion".
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149 (1):195. . . . .
9. Padian, Kevin; Chiappe L.M. (1997). "Bird Origins". In Philip
J. Currie & Kevin Padian (eds). Encyclopedia ofDinosaurs. San
Diego: Academic Press. pp. 4196. .
10. Senter P. 2006. Scapular orientation in theropods and basal
birds and the origin of flapping flight. ActaPalaeontologica
Polonica.
Other websites
Avibase - The World Bird Database
(http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/avibase.jsp?lang=EN&pg=home)Bird
Hybrids Database - Search by bird name, use Sibley classification
(http://www.bird-
hybrids.com/engine.php?LA=En)International Ornithological
Committee (http://www.i-o-c.org/IOComm/index.htm)
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Categories: Basic English 850 words Birds
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