Download Birds - RschoolToday

Ornithology
The Study of Birds
Habitat
• In time, birds have
adapted to live in diverse
regions including:
Forests, mountains,
deserts, oceans,
marshes, and many
more
• Dinosaurs?
• Ecological Niche =
Diversity
• Penguins, Ostrich,
Peregrine Falcon, Arctic
Tern, Goldfinch
Food Source
• Early in earth’s
history, birds ate
animal food, but seed
eating came later
• They now eat almost
everything including:
Nectar, roots, grass,
seeds, bugs, fish, ….
Importance to Humans and
Environment
• Birds that eat other
animals or, predator
birds, have an important
role in the food chain.
• They keep rodents
under control, helping
farmers.
• Birds help stop the
spread of some diseases.
• Birds spread pollen and
seed to help
reproduction of plants.
Unique Characteristics
• For a 170 lb. man to exert
as much energy as a bird,
he would have to eat 285
lbs of hamburger or
double his weight in
potatoes.
• Some have hollow
bones to make them
lighter
• Some maintain a body
temp of 40 degrees
Celsius on cold winter
days
• Some reduce body
temp in winter
Skeletal/Support System
Skeleton
• Modified for flight
– Supports flight muscles (pectoral girdle,
keel/sternum)
– Withstands stress of flight
– Wings – fewer, fused digits
• Reduced mass
– Pneumatic bones- major bones hollow with struts,
air spaces connected to respiratory system
– Fused bones- adds rigidity
– Lack teeth- lightweight beak
• Fused bones:
• Brain Case
• Furcula: pair of clavicles
• Thoracic vertebrae to ribs
• Synsacrum: ilium, ischium,
lumbar , sacral, and first 6 caudal
vertebrae
• Pygostyle: final few caudal
vertebrae
• Also fused bones in legs and
wings
• Also note:
• Uncinate processes
• Sternum/keel
• Arrangement and reduced
number of digits
• More specifics on handout
Pneumatic Bone
• Not completely hollow, has struts
• Connected to respiratory system
• Major bones of body pneumatic
http://nm.audubon.org/education/EE%20Chapter1/Chapter1.htm
•Pectoralis- downstroke
•Supracoracodieus- upstroke
•Complex muscles
Main Flight Muscles
Respiration
• Birds need a steady
stream of oxygen to
fly, and to be able to
release large
amounts of CO2
• The respiration cycle
of a bird is much
more effective than a
mammals,
transferring more air
with each breath
• Basically, birds
breath in and out at
the same time
Respiratory System
• Very efficient
• Unidirectional air
flow
• System of air sacs
– Average of 9
– Serve variety of
functions
• Lack muscular
diaphragm
Circulatory System
• Birds have a closed
circulatory system.
• A Closed Circulatory
system is a blood
circulation system in
which blood moves
through the body in
closed vessels.
• 4 Chambered Heart
• 1200bpm (Humming
bird flight) – 40bpm
(torpor)
Digestive System
•
•
•
•
•
Crop
Gizzard
Colic caeca
Liver
9AM Pheasant
Hunting Starting
Time?
Digestive System
Excretory System
• Bird’s waste systems are
much like reptiles
• Waste is removed from
blood from the kidney
• Then converted to uric
acid and put in the
cloaca
• There water is absorbed
and bird droppings are
formed
Reproductive System
• 95% of birds are socially
monogamous, they pair
with one mate for at least
the length of the breeding
season.
• Cloaca is the reproductive
organ in birds.
• Eggs are fertilized and
given nutrients inside the
female before the hard
shell forms.
• Intersexual Selection
• Sexual Dimorphism
• Limiting Factors
• DDT?
Sensory/Nervous system
• Birds are very intelligent,
they must fly at high
speeds, catch prey from
long distances, and
migrate thousands of
miles.
• This demands lots of
gathering and processing
information
• Bird senses are more
advanced than humans.
• Birds have great vision,
but taste and smell are
not as well developed.
Sensory System-Migration
• Birds have a sixth
sense-to migrate
• It is a magnetic sense;
like an internal
compass
•Some few birds, do not
have this sense and have
learned to use the stars for
migration
Examples
Flamingo
Toucan
King
Penguin
Humming
Bird
Feathers
• Feathers are an
adaptation that has
enabled them to
become successful.
• Penguins
• Peacocks
• Owls
• Eaglet
Beak Adaptations
• The beaks are
adapted to the kind of
food the bird eats.
• The toucan has a
large, strong beak to
slice food
• The long beak of a
pelican is ideal for
getting fish
Bird Feet
• Birds have hind limbs
used for walking,
swimming, running, or
perching
• Front limbs have
modified into wings
Endotherms
• Definition of
Endotherms: The
heat from within
• The bird’s body is
insulated enough to
conserve most of its
metabolic energy.
• They can maintain a
constant high body
temp
N200804040938263766
Orders
• There are 27 orders
of birds
• More than ½ are
Passeriformes, which
include house
sparrows and
perching birds
• StruthionifrmesOstriches
• Casuariiforms- Emus
The End