Birds! Flashcards
what are unique characteristics about australian birds?
they are angry -
plovers
magpies
eat sweet food
live in complex societies - helpers, feeding each others young
lead long lives -
attack other birds
be intelligent and long
What is a distinct features of Passerines
Perching feet
Australian has high or low endemism?
low endermism -Both native (naturally occuring)
How do PNG and Australia overlap in terms of birds?
It is considered one geographic unit - called Sahul.
endemism is higher in sahul - 12 of all bird famil (90% bird genera)
Important relationship - bird species breed in aus and migrate to PNG.
PBG had a land bridge when sea water was lower - PNG was connected to aus. Fauna and flora would cross over to PNG when the continents were connected.
What are distinct features of Passerines
42% of bird species
mostly small, except crows/ravens and lyrebirds
3 toes grip forward, 1 backward- grip around the back and no webbing between
no swimming or live in water
monophyletic group
what is a ratites (example)
an emu
What are non Passerines?
Order: Accipitriformes - grabbing foot - eagles
Order: Psittaciformes - climbing foot - parrots
palmate feet: digit 1 is backwards, and digits 2,3 and 4 are connected by webbing - ducks, geese
semipalmate: similar to palmate but the webbing is smaller - plovers
lobate: backwards digit and digits 2,3,4 have lobes of skin surrounding them - coots
totipalmate: all four digits connected by webbing - pelican
walking/running foot - three toes - emu
Plates - evolution of birds
All different continents in one land mass - caled pangaea
Broke up 150 million years ago into gondwana (africa, south america and australia) and laurasia (northern continents)
gondwana has similarities in sub species
continents broke up into current continents
What bird do we have australia from africa?
Pitta - only suboscines
recent arrivals - 40000
rainforest dwellers - feed on giant snails
What two sub groups were made from the order passeriformes?
Corvida - australian songbirds
Passerida - old world insect eaters
Order Passeriformes
sub-order - Passeres ‘songbirds’ corvida
Super family menuroidea
families: name two
- Lyrebirds : Superb and alberts
have most incredible songs, only unique set of songs - mimicry - order to contrast to create virtuosity - ground dwellers.
both females and males sing and mimic
- scrub birds - noisy and rufous
Order Passeriformes
sub-order - Passeres ‘songbirds’ corvida
Super family: meliphagoidea ‘meli’ honey, “phag” eat = honey eaters
families: name 5 groups
What are distinct features off honey eaters?
- Maluridae - fairy-wrens, emu-wrens
how many fairy-wren species do we have? 9
how many do we have in QLD? 7
How many do we have in year? 3
- Dayornithidae: bristlebird
eastern bristle bird - Acanthizidae: scrubwrens, thornbills, gerygones
- Pardalotidae: pardalotes
spotted pardalote - meliphagidae - honey eaters
australias largest bird family
brushed tipped tongue - berries, pollen
77 species
new holland honeyeater
blue-faced honeyeater
scarlet honeyeater
noisy miner
long curbed bill and tongue sticking out the end
Order Passeriformes
sub-order - Passeres ‘songbirds’ corvida
Super family: corvida
families: group of 7, try name some
Rhipiduridae: fantails
- grey fantail
- make shade and light patterns to catch food
Dicruridae: drongos
- spangled drongo
Monarchidae: monarch flycatchers
- aerial insectibles (catch insects while flying around) use tail to make shade and light patterns - help catch food and maneuver around.
- short beak
Paradisaeidae: birds-of-paradise
Pomatostomidae: babblers
- papuan babbler
ground feed omnivores - insects seeds, fruits, and small vertebrates, in family groups
Corcoracidae: white-winged
chough, apostlebird
- bill, long and curved
Corvidae: crows, ravens
- stubby bill
What are key features about passerines
All have perching feet : 3 toes forward, one backward, no webbing
Evolved in Gondwana, radiated north
After speciating north, some returned to the south, e.g. crows
3 suborders: only 1* in Australia (suborder Passeres, oscines )
Also known a s ‘songbirds ’
3 s uper fa milies:
- Menuroidea: Lyrebirds & scrub birds
- Meliphagoidea: Honeyeaters , pardalotes , scrubwrens, fairy wrens
- Corvoidea: aerial insectivores (fantails , monarchs , drongo)
ground omnivores (babblers , choughs , ravens ) & riflebirds
What birds are considered non-passerines?
Ratites , penguins , raptors , cuckoos , sea birds , parrots etc
large variety of life history, sizes and morphologies
Order of psittaciformes
family: Psittaculidae
what do these include?
and what is special about australia and parrots?
parrots, lorikeets and rosellas
parrots - evolutionary history, richness across the world, number of species PNG, south america, and Eastern Australia
phylogenetics diversity - australia has large groups - 4 of the sub families
What are some key characteristics of psittaculidae?
They have two toes at the front and two toes at the back helps them climb while holding food
What is the only bird in australian mainland, that has gone exinct? and what part?
Paradise parrot
native to the grassy woodlands extending across the Queensland and New South Wales border area of eastern Australia.
What are a list of endangered parrots?
night parrot
orange bellied parrot
golden-shouldered parrot
What are key features of lorikeets and rosella?
in Psittaculidae family
beaks are tough enough to crack nuts break wood
eat nectar and seeds
brushes on the ends of their tongues to collect nectar
rainbow lorikeet
scaly-breasted lorikeet
crimson rosella
pale-headed rosella
What birds are in the cacatuidae?
Cockatoos and corellas
palm cockatoo
gang-gang cocktaoo
galah
sulphur crested cockatoo
glossy black-cockatoo
black cockatoos
cockatiel
glossy black cockatoo
What birds are in the order galliformes, family, megapodiidae?
Mega “big” pod “foot”
brushed turkey
orange-footed srubfowl
mallee fowl
22 species 3 in aus and 8 in sahul
why are megapodiidae’s considered unusual birds?
do not use body heat to incubate egss
use solar, geothermal or microbial heat sources
derived incubation strategy
lay relatively large thick-shelled eggs - why would they be large? progrocial birds - born running and surviving - no parental care
Out of the male and female bush turkey, which gender prepares the nest and what are key features that allow it to do so?
They have claws on their feet that allows them to scrap foliage and sticks into a mound.
they have to make sure the eggs stay a constant temperature - therefore, increamound temperature by adding fresh material to mound and open mound every couple of days for eggs laying during breeding season.
mounds generally large enough to have large thermal inertia, temperature regulated
Out of the male and female bush turkey, which gender prepares the nest and what are key features that allow it to do so?
They have claws on their feet that allows them to scrap foliage and sticks into a mound.
they have to make sure the eggs stay a constant temperature - therefore, increamound temperature by adding fresh material to mound and open mound every couple of days for eggs laying during breeding season.
mounds generally large enough to have large thermal inertia, temperature regulated
