Birds Overview Flashcards
Which of the following is unique to birds?
a. Egg-laying
b. Endothermy
c. Feathers
d. Bepedalism
c. Feathers
Gular fluttering is used by birds to:
a. warm up
b. drink
c. stay cool
d. swallow
c. stay cool
Morning doves in the Sonoran Desert sit on their eggs largely to:
a. dampen them
b. dry them
c. cool them
d. hide them
c. cool them
Which of the following type of birds exhibit promiscuity?
a. Oriols
b. Hummingbirds
c. Mockingbirds
d. Owls
b. Hummingbirds
Over 90% of birds exhibit which mating system?
a. Polygamy
b. Polyandry
c. Monogamy
d. Promiscuity
c. Monogamy
Recent fossil evidence has enhanced the theory that birds evolved from:
a. thecodonts
b. pterosaurs
c. dinosaurs
d. none of the above
c. dinosaurs
Flight feathers attach to:
a. bone
b. skin
c. muscle
d. fat
a. bone
Flight feathers can be distinguished from other feathers by:
a. symmetrical vanes
b. asymmetrical vanes
c. vanes absent
d. plumulaceous vanes
b. asymmetrical vanes
The main function of the primary feathers is:
a. lift
b. thrust
c. steering
d. braking
b. thrust
A set of eggs is called a (an):
a. brood
b. pack
c. assemblage
d. clutch
d. clutch
Characteristics of altricial young include:
a. hatch fully feathered with down
b. eyes open
c. unable to leave nest right away
d. good motor skills
c. unable to leave nest right away
Two Sonoran Desert region bird species that are on the U.S. Endangered Species list are the:
a. thick-billed parrot and masked bobwhite
b. lilac crowned parrot and roadrunner
c. masked bobwhite and lilac crowned parrot
d. roadrunner and thick-billed parrot
a. thick-billed parrot and masked bobwhite
Raptors possess which of the following attributes adapted for hunting?
a. feet and keen smell
b. talons and a hooked beak
c. beauty and speed
d. keen smell and a hooked beak
b. talons and a hooked beak
Plumage is replaced by molting.
True or False
True
Territories are established and maintained by chases, displays and songs.
True or False
True
Primary flight feathers are often modified structurally for courtship displays.
True or False
False
In species with a polyandrous mating system, females are larger and more brightly-colored than males.
True or False
True
Birds can acquire carotenoid (red, orange, and bright yellow) pigments only through their diet.
True or False
True
The two most significant events in the annual cycle of a bird are feather molting and nesting.
True or False
True
Types of feathers include flight feathers, contour feathers, bristles, down, semi-plumes, and filo-plumes.
True or False
True
Groups of birds whose young are atricial include song birds, raptors, owls, cuckoos, parrots, waders (herons, egrets, etc).
True or False
True
The three phases of bird migration are the preparatory phase (eat and store food), actual flight phase, and behavioral modification phase (diurnal birds to nocurnal birds).
True or False
True
Primaries and secondaries are the flight feathers of the wing.
True or False
True
Barbs and barbules make up the vane of a contour feather.
True or False
True
Greater Roadrunners warm themselves by exposing black skin (apteria) on their backs to the sun, which absorbs the heat and raises the bird’s body temperature.
True or False
True
Also know as birds of prey, raptors feed almost exclusively on meat and, except for carrion-eaters, pursue and kill the animals on which they feed.
True or False
True
All birds that eat meat are raptors.
True or False
False
Birds that live in the desert adapt to heat extremes by avaoidance, heat conduction and radiation, and evaporative cooling.
True or False
True
Feathers require routine maintenance. Check what birds may use to maintian their feathers.
___ Anting
___ Preening
___ Bathing in water
___ Bathing in dust
___ Uropygial gland or preening gland
__X_ Anting
__X_ Preening
__X_ Bathing in water
__X_ Bathing in dust
__X_ Uropygial gland or preening gland
Check the function of nests.
___ Protect the eggs
___ Contain the eggs
___ Catch predators
___ Control temperature
_X__ Protect the eggs
_X__ Contain the eggs
____ Catch predators
_X__ Control temperature
Check the reason)s) Archaeopteryx is an important fossil.
___ Is a ‘missing’ link between reptiles and birds.
___ Exhibits both avian and reptilian features.
___ It helped provide evidence the theory that birds are descended from reptiles.
_X__ Is a ‘missing’ link between reptiles and birds.
_X__ Exhibits both avian and reptilian features.
_X__ It helped provide evidence the theory that birds are descended from reptiles.
Check the function(s) of feathers.
___ Thermoregulation
___ Locomotion
___ Camouflage
___ Communication
_X__ Thermoregulation
_X__ Locomotion
_X__ Camouflage
_X__ Communication
Check the adaptation(s) for flight that birds possess.
___ Pneumatized skeletons
___ Bones lost or reduced in size and fused together
___ Increased number of organs
___ Sexual organs atrophy after breeding season
_X__ Pneumatized skeletons
_X__ Bones lost or reduced in size and fused together
____ Increased number of organs
_X__ Sexual organs atrophy after breeding season
There are two competing theories for the origin of flight in birds, Trees-Down and Ground-Up theories. Match the theory to the description.
___ Ground-Up Theory
___ Trees-Down Theory
a. Feathers first evolved to extend leaps on the ground, eventually leading to flight.
b. Feathers first evolved to keep ancestral birds warm in the cooler trees, then were used to extend jumps from trees into gliding flight.
_a__ Ground-Up Theory
_b__ Trees-Down Theory
a. Feathers first evolved to extend leaps on the ground, eventually leading to flight.
b. Feathers first evolved to keep ancestral birds warm in the cooler trees, then were used to extend jumps from trees into gliding flight.
Birds can be categorized by the food they eat. Match the following bird category to its food.
Match the category to the list of birds whose primary food source is described by it. (Categories may be used more than once.)
