Birds

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Birds
Class Aves
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Ornithologist

• Individuals who study birds.

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9,000 Birds worldwide
50 of these birds are found In the order
Passeriformes
(songbirds)
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Feathers
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Flight Feathers
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Flight Feathers
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Feathers up close
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Responsible for body shape and color
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Down feathers
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4 other types of Feathers
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Semiplumes
Semiplumes are half-way between a contour
feather and a down feather. These occur between
the contour feathers and help to supply
insulation and a certain amount of form as well
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Filoplumes
Filoplumes and bristles are much smaller.
Filoplumes have only a very few barbs at their
tips and are believed to have a sensory
function, helping birds keep their feathers in
order.
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Bristle Feathers
Bristles have practically no barbs at all and are
stiff. They occur around the eyes and mouths of
some birds and are protective in function. They
are particularly evident in the honey buzzard
(Pernis apivorus) for instance, which feeds on
the nests and young of social bees and wasps and
needs protection around its beak from the stings
of the adult bees and wasps.
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Honey Buzzard
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Powder feathers
The fourth main types of feathers are Powder
Feathers. These are unusual in that they grow
continuously and that they disintegrate at the
tip. The barbs breaking down into a fine powder
that in Herons at least us useful in mopping up
the slime and dust that gets on their fronts
during feeding. Thus they help keep the
plumage clean. Powder feathers occur scattered
throughout the plumage of most birds, but their
function is not well understood.
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More on Feathers

• Molting The process in which a bird replaces
  its feathers. Once or twice a year.
• Feathers are made of a protein called keratin,
  dead matter.
• Brood patches area on the birds abdomen where
  the feathers are lost to incubate eggs.
• Preening process of cleaning feathers by
  dipping beak into the preening gland filled with
  oil at the base of the tail.

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Birds most brightly colored animals in the Animal
Kingdom
Coloration
Grouse
Male Dull - Why?
Male
Female
Gold Finches
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Flight
Large Soaring Birds (Vultures and Eagles) Long,
broad wings
Forest Birds (Owls, hawks, songbirds) Short,
broad wings
Fast Fliers (flacons and swifts) Long pointed
wings
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Bird Bones
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