BIRDS Flashcards
Birds taxonomy
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- How many orders: 40
- Families: 239
- Species: 10,500 which changes regularly
Which birds are you most likely to see in practise
- Passerines (song bird/ perching bird)
- Psittacines
- Raptors
- Poultry and waterfowl
Give examples of:
- Passerines (song bird/ perching bird)
- Psittacines
- Raptors
- Poultry and waterfowl
- Passerines (song bird/ perching bird) - finch, canarie, blue tit, robin
- Psittacines - parrot (amazon and grey), budgie, cockatiels
- Raptors - birds of prey, owls, falcons, hawks, buzzards owners often very knowledgeable
- Poultry and waterfowl - chicken, geese, pheasants, quail, swan
What are birds you might see but are more often farmed.
ostrich, rhea, emu: high protein low fat.
Large flightless birds
How many toes to passerines have
4
Orders of raptor
Accipitriformes – diurnal birds of prey: Hawks, Buzzards
o Falconiformes – diurnal birds of prey: Falcons
o Strigiformes – nocturnal birds of prey: Owls
Orders of poultry and waterfowl
- Anseriformes - ducks, geese, swans
2. Galliformes - chickens, turkeys
Difference between anseriformes and gallifrorms
A - family Anatidae
G - family phasianidae
Name of the socked bird eye fits into
sclerotic rings
Birds and blinking
- Rarely ever blink
- eyelids only closed when sleeping
- Have nictitating membrane (3rd eyelid) which functions like blinking
- No meibomium gland (harderian and lacrimal main source of tear production
- Retina doesn’t have a blood supple like mammals
Major differences in birds eye
- cornea thinner and lens softer
2. Retina thick and avascular
Bird integument
- skin is thin and inelastic, esp order strigiformes (owls)
- Reduced glands compared with mammals:
No sweat glands
No sebaceous glands
Uropygial Gland (preen) - largest on birds that require waterproofing, not present in all
Uropygial gland
- base of tail dorsum
- Variation in size, shape and number of openings
- Not present in ostrich, emu, some pigeons and some parrots
- Produced lipid rich secretion for feather waterproofing and maintenance
Name of where feather follicles are and aren’t found
- Feather follicles confined to well defined areas called pterylae
- Between these the skin has no follicles: apteriae
Anatomy of feather
- Rachis - line up middle of whole feather.
Contains capillaries during growth, becomes hollow as matures - Vane - either side of central rachis. Consists of a series of barbs with interlocking barbules to keep shape and maintain waterproofing
- Calamus - bottom of Rachis, anchors feather into follicle. HOLLOW
- Feather shaft - combination of calamus and central rachis
Different feather types
- Plumulaceous
- Pennaceous
- Contour feathers
- Semiplumes
- Down feathers
- Powder down feathers