Mid Term Exam

Question 1

4 characteristics that define a bird?

Answer 1

Features for flight (Weight-saving modifications, wings & feathers)
Endothermy- maintain a high body temperature by using own metabolic heat
Complex behaviors – social, parental care, tool use, memory
Internal fertilization and lay a shelled egg

Question 2

What are features of bird anatomy that are adapted for flight, besides just having feathers - the skeleton + bone structure, internal organs?

Answer 2

Hollow bones, fusion and elimination of some bones, large brains (quick nervous system response), they keep their reproductive organs (testes, ovaries and oviducts) tiny for most of the year, greatly enlarging them only during the breeding season. A bird’s respiratory system is proportionately larger and much more efficient than ours.

Question 3

label a diagram of a bird with the following features: crown, nape, wing coverts, tertials, secondaries, primaries, tail, upper tail coverts, undertail coverts, throat, scapulars, breast, side, belly

Answer 3

Question 4

label a diagram of the head: eye ring, eyebrow, eyeline, nape, whisker marks, throat, chin, upper and lower mandibles, crown stripe

Answer 4

Question 5

label diagram of wings In flight: primaries, secondaries, wingtip

Answer 5

Question 6

Why and how do scientists think old growth forest habitat could be helpful for songbirds in the face of climate change?

Answer 6

There are differences in temperature across the whole height of a tree, and when it’s warmer, birds may be only using the bottom and more shady parts of the trees.
The complex layers and sheer biomass of old growth keeps the temperature low.

Question 7

10 tips for confident bird identification

Answer 7

1. know your basic taxonomy – taxons by common name
2. consider the location
3. consider the Habitat
4. consider the time of year
5. consider the lighting
6. know that bird names change
7. pay attention to behavior
8. bird voices – what do you hear?
9. start with size and shape
10. look at feathers (plumage)

Question 8

Explain the hierarchical classification system we use to organize birds into taxonomic groups. (Bird taxonomy).

Answer 8

Kingdom: Animalia (this includes all animals on earth)
Phylum: Chordata (this includes all animals on earth which have a spinal chord)
Subphylum: Vertebrata (this includes all animals which have a true backbone)
Class: Aves (this includes all living and extinct birds)
Order: There are 29 orders of birds. All order names end in the suffix –formes.
Family: The 29 orders of birds is divided into 233 families, 83 of which have species which occur in North America.
Genus (plural: Genera)
The genus is the main taxonomic division between the family group and individual species
Species: The species is the most fundamental building block of the entire taxonomic classification system, as all other levels in the taxonomic hierarchy are based on groupings of species.

Question 9

What criteria do we use to define a species?

Answer 9

A species is defined as an organism which freely breeds with other, similar organisms and their offspring are fertile and capable of also breeding with the same organisms.

Question 10

Why do bird names (and classification) change?

Answer 10

A species may be “split” into 2 species based on new information
Birds named after people are being reassigned descriptive names
There can be more than one common name, just due to local regional vocabulary

Question 11

How are bird ID guides organized, in general?

Answer 11

Order (Birds from the same order have similar characteristics and are closely related)

Question 12

From Merlin- what is a spectrogram?

Answer 12

a graph that shows the strength of a signal over time for a specific frequency range

Question 13

Why do birds vocalize?

Answer 13

Birds have songs and calls. Songs are longer and more complex and usually are meant to attract mates in breeding season, or defending a territory. Birds sing them over and over. Calls are shorter and have varied but specific messages- predator alert, or keeping flock together (here I am!)

Question 14

What adaptations allow owls to hunt successfully in the dark?

Answer 14

Owls have really sensitive hearing. In addition, owls are sedentary, holding a hunting territory that they operate night after night. So they are very familiar with their environment. They know the heights of favorite perches, which is essential for their ability to pounce on prey. Owls are nocturnal silent hunters. They can hunt silently because they have a structural modification of the first primary feather on each wing. All owls have this. The forward edge of the feather is serrated rather than smooth which has the effect of disrupting the flow of air over the wing. Also, the small body and large wings allows owls to glide. They don’t need to keep flapping their wings to stay aloft. Flapping wings generates turbulence, air movement. When aire moves, it generates sound. Gliding means silent flying.

Question 15

What is skimming, and why do coastal birds skim?

Answer 15

Using the “ground effect” to fly very close to the water

Question 16

How do oystercatchers open oysters and other shelled animals?

Answer 16

A long, stout bill with mandibles that are triangular in cross-section and are reinforced so that they don’t bend very easily. But the success of these birds depends mainly on use of on of two learned techniques. They are either stabbers or hammerers.

Question 17

How can different species of shorebirds forage together in the same habitat without experiencing the cost of competition?

Answer 17

each species has different adaptations for feeding in a slightly different way from all the other species. There are differences in behavior, sensory detection of prey, and body features (morphology).

Question 18

What is “Citizen science” and how is it valuable (the shorebird nesting data case study)

Answer 18

Citizen science involves engaging everyday people in scientific research and data collection. Volunteers can assist in various ways, such as:

1. Nest monitoring: Volunteers can help locate and monitor shorebird nests, recording data on nest location, number of eggs, hatching success, and any disturbances observed.
2. Behavior observation: Citizen scientists can observe and record behaviors such as courtship displays, feeding habits, and interactions with predators or other wildlife.
3. Habitat assessment: Volunteers can help assess the quality of shorebird habitat, including factors such as vegetation cover, beach erosion, and human disturbances.
4. Public outreach and education: Citizen science programs often include an educational component, raising awareness about shorebird conservation and the importance of protecting nesting areas.

Question 19

What is the general trend in shorebird numbers in North America?

Answer 19

The general trend in shorebird numbers in North America has unfortunately been a decline over recent decades.

Question 20

Shorebird tracking and migration- what are some challenges to conservation of migratory birds, and how can citizen science and migration maps help?

Question 21

Describe and provide examples of evolutionary adaptations (behavior, physical) to living with other species in a community. Include competition, predation, mutualisms, commensalisms

Question 22

Identify the 7 components of a bird’s ecological niche.

Question 23

Be able to interpret the findings of the study (the graph) of character displacement in finches