Birds

Question 1

What types of feathers are there?

Answer 1

down (nessoptiles)
Flight
Contour
Semiplumes

Question 2

What are the components of feathers?

Answer 2

Keratin
Melanin
Carotenoid pigments

Question 3

How are colours made in feathers?

Answer 3

White: caused by reflection of all wavelengths
Blue: caused by reflection of incident light from turbid porous layers over melanin
Irridescent colours: generated by interference

Question 4

Are feathers dead or alive

Answer 4

Dead, but during growth are full of blood vessels

Question 5

What’s a contour feather

Answer 5

Cover the body

Symmetrical

Question 6

What’s a down feather

Answer 6

Soft and fluffy

Trap air and create layer of insulation

Question 7

What are bristle feathers?

Answer 7

Stiff shaft with barbs only on base

Around eye, nose, bill and as eye lashes

Question 8

What are filoplume feathers?

Answer 8

Hair like
Very fine shaft with a few short barbs at end
Function as pressure and vibration receptors

Question 9

What are semiplume feathers?

Answer 9

Fill in between contour and down feathers

Have veiny barbs near shaft which break down to fluffy stuff

Question 10

Where are the primary flight feathers attached?

Answer 10

Hand bones

Question 11

Where are the secondary flight feathers attached?

Answer 11

Attached to ulna

Question 12

What’s a quill knob?

Answer 12

Where feathers are attached to forelimb bones in birds, indicated that some dinosaur species had feathers including velociraptor

Question 13

What extra layers of feathers are there covering parts of the primaries?

Answer 13

Lesser coverts
Median coverts
Greater coverts

Question 14

What is the alula,

Answer 14

Important for flight, attached to base of thumb

Can move independently from rest of hand

Question 15

What is emargination?

Answer 15

A thinning of the width of the feather at a distance down the flight feathers
It causes gaps in wing tips, forcing air up through the gaps leading to increased lift

Question 16

What are pterylae,

Answer 16

Discrete tracts of contour and flight feathers growing down the body and wings

Question 17

What are apteryia

Answer 17

Spaces in between covered with down and semiplume

Question 18

What is birds skin like?

Answer 18

Loose thin and dry

No sweat glands, only cutaneous gland is the uropygial (preen) gland

Question 19

How do birds keep feathers in good nick?

Answer 19

Uropygial gland at base of tail excretes waxes, fatty acids, fat and water to coat feathers

Question 20

What are the structures of the feather?

Answer 20

Quill, shaft, barbs, barbules, hooks and ridges, vanes

Question 21

What are the potential stages during feather development?

Answer 21

• filamentous -> downy -> vaned
  OR
• strap -> vaned -> downy

Question 22

What are the hypothesised reasons for feather development?

Answer 22

• flight (not supported by fossil evidence)
• insulation
• display
• prey capture
• temperature regulation

Question 23

What roll does the tail have in flight?

Answer 23

Minimises drag
Control
Additional lift at low speeds

Question 24

What types of birds use feet in flight and how?

Answer 24

Webbed feet in water birds, use for lift control and stability

Question 25

What is moulting In birds

Answer 25

Periodic shedding of feathers

Question 26

Why do birds moult?

Answer 26

Feathers wear out: - Inefficient in flight - Inefficient for insulation - Inefficient for waterproofing - Dull and not good for attracting mate

Question 27

What can wear result from

Answer 27

``` Abrasion UV damage Bacterial activity Mallophaga General wear and tear ```

Question 28

What does melanin do to feather structural strength?

Answer 28

Increases it | Strips of dark will be less worn away on feathers

Question 29

What’s the 3 part plumage sequence of birds in their lives?

Answer 29

Nessoptile - few down feathers on feather tracts Juvenile - bird starts to develop its main body feathers, but lacks ability for sustained flight Adult - fully developed feathers

Question 30

What moult types are there?

Answer 30

Partial - body only (juvenile moult is partial moult) | Full - body and flight feathers

Question 31

Where does moult start on body and wings?

Answer 31

On body starts from center of dorsal tract | On wings, starts at shoulder, moves down the wing

Question 32

Why do birds migrate?

Answer 32

Follow food: Within a season (hard weather movements) Between seasons (seasonal migrants)

Question 33

How many birds in Europe and Asia are involved in autumn migration per year

Answer 33

5 billion

Question 34

For how long can warblers fly non stop

Answer 34

86 hours, north to South America

Question 35

How many miles do bristle thighs curlews fly between winter and breeding

Answer 35

2000

Question 36

What are true migrants?

Answer 36

Birds that move long distances, retain historical patterns of dispersal

Question 37

What are the costs vs benefits of migration?

Answer 37

Costs: increased mortality risk Benefits: favourable conditions elsewhere or increased breeding success

Question 38

What are the sources of fuel for migration?

Answer 38

Mainly fat: small migrants increase upto 150% mass in fat (eg. Garden warbler increase by 60%) Flight muscle mass needs to be increased to generate additional power to carry extra weight

Question 39

How much more energy per gram does fat have than protein and carbohydrate

Answer 39

Twice as much

Question 40

Birds with large amounts of fat can fly how far?

Answer 40

2000km in one flight, for example birds need to fly across Sahara desert in one go, 600 miles!

Question 41

How do some birds show phenotypic plasticity for flight?

Answer 41

Reduce size weights of body organs - consequences for refuelling

Question 42

What causes migratory behaviour?

Answer 42

Changes in photoperiod, which results in increase in thyroid hormone (TH)

Question 43

What does increase in TH also cause?

Answer 43

Moult

Question 44

What are the 3 important processes in migratory species

Answer 44

Migration Moult Reproduction - only do them one at once

Question 45

How do we know where birds go?

Answer 45

Ringing, in use since 1909