T2: Birds (DONE) Flashcards
Psittaciformes vs Passeriforms
Psittaciformes –> budgies, parakeets, lories, parrots, macaws, cockatoos
-natural seedeaters
Passeriforms –> perching songbirds (canaries/ finches)
Describe avian vision
large relative to head and brain size
-nicitating membrane
-some birds see ultraviolet light (some rodents urine/ fees are visible with UV light)
Describe avian hearing
-outer ear: NO pinna
- middle ear: 1 bone
inner ear: 3 semicircular canals
- loss of sensory cells (hairs) causes hearing loss
- birds can regenerate and replace hairs following damage or loss
Describe the integumentary system
very thin skin, minimal blood and nerve supply
-uropygial gland
-scales on legs and feet
- covered in feathers (specialized scales)
What are avian feathers?
keratin
-arranged in tracts called pterylae
- unfeathered areas are called apteria
Describe feather structure
calamus or quill (hollow central stalk of feather BELOW skin level)
rachis (hollow stalk ABOVE skin level)
Barbs + barbules (enable waterproofing)
- feathers help waterproof and critical for flight
Feather Colors
structural and chemical
-pigments can be int he core, cloudy zone (spongy zone), and cortex
4 pigments:
- melanins (common)
- Carotenoids (common)
-Porphyrins (uncommon)
- Psittacins (only parrots)
What is molting?
one or more times per year, usually seasonal
-stressful period
-new feathers are produced in time; pin feathers
- specific molt and regrowth order
-specifically formulated molting feed
Why are birds aerodynamic?
- bird can respire through pneumatic bones: continuous with air sacs
- medullary bones allow storage and mobilization Ca2_ in egg- producing female
Describe the respiratory system
- nares (slit in upper beak)
- cere
- trachea ends in syrnix (vocal cords)
- little ability to expand
- can NOT strangle a bird (no soft spot)
- no diaphragm
-air sacs: storage areas for air, aerodynamics inf light, cooling of body core, aid in movement
-O2 exchange occurs during both inspiration and expiration!
Describe the avian circulatory system
birds are endothermic after 2 or 3 wks of age
-106 Farenheit
- 4- chambered heart
- nucleated erythrocyte
Describe the urogenital system
no urinary bladder
-ureters empty directly into cloaca; uric acid
- testes are internal
- most only have one functional ovary (left)
- one ovulation per day
How do you determine sex in avians?
- plumage colors
- size and secondary sex characteristics
- cere
- eye color
Describe Finches & Canaries
-sexual maturity: 4- 8 months
- mate in spring
-can candle their eggs and fertile eggs will be red
-featherless, unable to see during birth
-high plane of nutrition:
egg biscuits or yolks from hard boiled eggs
What are Budgerigars?
- birds that sexually mature at 6 months
-should be bred at 1 yr or older (check for mature coloration of cere (males- blue, females- tan))
-one egg/d for 3- 6 days
- incubation - 17-18 days
-Supplement mother and babies:
-males will provide female with partially digested food, who feed them to the babies
- mothers produce crop milk
