Chapter 7 Flashcards
What is the scientific name for feathers?
Plumage
What is the largest flying bird?
Andean condor
What are the bills of birds made of?
Keratin
What is the ridge on the sternum that provides the necessary attachment point for the flight muscles?
Keel
What is the retractable group of feathers on the front of the wing that is supported by the “thumb bones”?
Alula
What is the most important flight muscle?
Pectorals
What allows the air to flow through the lungs instead of just in and out?
Air capillaries
How many times does a bird inhale and exhale to move each breath of air through its respiratory system?
Twice
How many chambers are in a bird’s heart?
Four
What is the storage sac in the esophagus that moistens food and releases it in a steady stream to the rest of the digestive system?
Crop
What organ grinds the food to make it more easily absorbed?
Gizzard
What type of vision allows birds to see most of their surroundings at once?
Monocular vision
What type of vision in which both eyes focus on the same object?
Binocular vision
What type of feathers are the strong feathers on the bird’s body, wings, and tail?
Contour feathers
What are the soft, fluffy feathers close to the bird’s body?
Down feathers
What is the gland that produces oil used to condition and waterproof the feathers?
Preen gland
What is the process in which birds replace old, broken, or missing feathers?
Molting
What is a structure that changes the flow of air to produce a force?
Airfoil
What is the simplest kind of flight that is when a bird coasts “downhill”?
Gliding
What is the type of flying that allows birds to rest and save energy by alternating flapping with gliding or coasting?
Intermittent flight
What is the built-in knowledge that birds possess at birth that let them know where to nest and what kind of nest to build?
Instincts
What is the unusual organ that produces a bird’s singing voice without the use of vocal cords?
Syrinx
What is the practice of taking a dust bath to get rid of parasites?
Dusting
What is it called when flocks of small birds harass a hawk?
Mobbing
What is the practice of ground nesting birds in thick grass sneaking away from the nest to draw attention to itself and away from the nest?
Rodent running
What is the regular movement of animals between two habitats?
Migration
What is the migration of animals a relatively short distance?
Altitudinal migration
What are the routes that migrating birds follow year after year?
Flyways
What is the complex package designed to nurture and protect the developing bird?
Egg
What is the nutrient-rich fluid for the developing chick?
Yolk
What does the embryo develop from?
Germinal spot
What holds the yolk body in place by two dense, twisted cords?
Chalazae
What is the outer part of the albumen that is made of keratin?
Shell membrane
What is the eggshell made of?
Calcium carbonate
What is the act of keeping the eggs warm for proper chick development?
Incubation
What type of wings do land-soaring birds have?
Long, broad wings
What two things determines the tail’s shape?
Type of flight and habitat conditions
Sandpipers and whimbrels have what type of bill that allows them to easily retrieve burrowing crustaceans?
Probing bills
What type of bill do birds that capture insects mid-flight have that allow bills to open widely with hinged jaws?
Gaping bills
What is the name of the straight, strong, pointed bill that omnivores such as crows have for their diverse diet of insects, fruits, eggs, crustaceans, and flesh?
All-purpose bill
What is the name of the spatula-shaped bill that spoonbills use to scoop small aquatic animals from the water?
Straining bills
What type of feet do songbirds have with three forward toes and one hind toe?
Perching feet
What type of feet do birds that perch or climb vertically have with two forward toes and two hind toes?
Climbing feet
What type of feet do hunting birds have that are armed with sharp, curved talons?
Grasping feet
What are various colors, patterns, and markings that are characteristic of a particular bird species?
Field marks
What are birds that hatch featherless and helpless?
Altricial birds
What is the only bird that will climb down a tree trunk headfirst?
Nuthatch
What type of bird has a unique mating ritual that includes building a nest and decorating it with shells, flowers, and other colorful objects?
Bowerbirds
What bird has the ability to hover?
Hummingbird
What is the smallest of all birds?
Bee hummingbird
What category do eagles, hawks, and falcons fall under?
Birds of prey
What is the world’s fastest bird?
Peregrine falcon
Pelicans, Grebes, and Gulls are in which category of birds?
Water birds
What are birds that hatch with down and are able to run or swim shortly after birth?
Precocial
What bird has a unique throat pouch used to catch fish?
Pelican
What category of birds includes birds that have been or are hunted for food, such as the grouse, and other edible birds such as chickens?
Game birds
What is the group of game birds are the only birds in the world not to provide any parental care for their young after hatching?
Megapodes
What category of birds live in warm regions and include macaws, parakeets, and parrots?
Tropical birds
What are birds that do not have a keel on the sternum, such as ostriches and emus?
Flightless birds
What is the largest living bird?
Ostrich
