Welcome to the Birds Portal! Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, oviparous vertebrate animals. Most scientists believe that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs. Ranging in size from tiny hummingbirds to the huge Ostrich and Emu, there are between 9,000 and 10,000 known living bird species in the world, making Aves the most diverse class of terrestrial vertebrate.
A bird is characterized by feathers, a beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a light but strong skeleton. Most birds have forelimbs modified as wings and can fly.
Birds are important sources of food, acquired either through farming or hunting. Numerous species of birds are also used commercially, and some species, particularly songbirds and parrots, are popular pets. Birds figure prominently in all aspects of human culture from religion to poetry and popular music. Numerous species of birds are threatened with extinction by human activities and efforts are underway to protect them.
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene.
In general, seabirds live longer, breed later and have fewer young than other birds do, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in colonies, which can vary in size from a few dozen birds to millions. Many species are famous for undertaking long annual migrations, crossing the equator or circumnavigating the Earth in some cases. They feed both at the ocean's surface and below it, and even feed on each other. Seabirds can be highly pelagic, coastal, or in some cases spend a part of the year away from the sea entirely.
Seabirds and humans have a long history together: they have provided food to hunters, guided fishermen to fishing stocks and led sailors to land. Many species are currently threatened by human activities, and conservation efforts are under way.
The Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) is a large diving duck. Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes and lakes in southern Europe and southern and central Asia. It is somewhat migratory, and northern birds winter further south and into north Africa.
Free online resources:
- SORA: The Searchable Online Research Archive (SORA) has decades worth of archives of the following journals: The Auk, Condor, Journal of Field Ornithology, North American Bird Bander, Studies in Avian Biology, Pacific Coast Avifauna, and the Wilson Bulletin. Coverage ends around 2000. The ability to search all journals or browse exists on the front page.
- Notornis: The Journal of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand covers New Zealand and the South Pacific.
- New Zealand Journal of Ecology: This journal often publishes bird related articles. Like Notornis, thie journals is concerned with New Zealand and surrounding areas.
- Marine Ornithology: Published by the numerous Seabird Research Groups, Marine Ornithology is specific and goes back many years.
- BirdLife International: The Data Zone has species accounts for every species, although only threatened species have any detail beyond status and evaluation.
- Authors Names: This is a good source for binomial authorities for taxoboxes.
There is also Birds of North America, Cornell University's massive project collecting information on every Breeding bird in the ABA area. It is available for 40 USD a year.
For more sources, including printed sources, see WikiProject Birds.
The Superb Fairy-wren ( Malurus cyaneus), also known as Superb Blue-wren or colloquially as Blue wren, is a passerine bird of the Maluridae family. Sedentary and territorial, it is found across south-eastern Australia. The male in breeding plumage has a striking bright blue forehead, ear coverts, mantle and tail with a black mask and black or dark blue throat. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour. Two subspecies are recognised. Like other fairy-wrens, the Superb Fairy-wren is notable for several peculiar behavioural characteristics; birds are socially monogamous and sexually promiscuous. Male wrens pluck yellow petals and display them to females as part of a courtship display. The Superb Fairy-wren can be found in almost any area that has at least a little dense undergrowth for shelter. It has adapted well to the urban environment. The Superb Fairy-wren mainly eats insects and supplements its diet with seeds.
Collaboration of the month
Every month a different bird-related topic, article, stub or non-existent article is picked. Please improve the article any way you can.
| Class Aves, divided into superorders, orders, suborders (where indicated), and families. |
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