Chapter 27 - Birds

CHAPTER 27 BIRDS
CHAPTER OUTLINE
27.1. Diversity
A. Profile
1. Over 10,400 species have been described worldwide; only fishes have more species among vertebrates.
2. Birds live in all terrestrial and aquatic environments, from the North to the South Pole.
3. Some live in dark caves, and some dive to 45 meters depth.
4. The “bee” hummingbird is one of the smallest vertebrate endotherms.
5. The feather is the unique and essential feature or hallmark of birds; however, feathers were also
present in some theropod dinosaurs, although these feathers were not capable of supporting flight and
obviously served in other capacities such as thermoregulation or mating behavior.
6. Uniformity in Structure
a. Despite 150 million years of evolution, birds are still readily recognized.
b. Forelimbs are modified as wings, although not all are capable of flight.
c. Hindlimbs are adapted for walking, swimming or perching.
d. All birds have horny, keratinized beaks.
e. All birds lay eggs.
f. The driving force for this uniformity appears to be the adaptations necessary for flight.
1) Wings are present for support and propulsion.
2) The respiratory system must meet high oxygen demands and cool the body.
3) Bones must provide a light but rigid airframe.
4) Digestion and circulation must meet the high-energy demands of flight.
5) And the nervous system must have superb sensory systems for high-velocity flight.
27.2. Origin and Relationships (Figures 27.1-27.4)
A. History
1. The discovery of the fossil of Archaeopteryx lithographica in 1861 linked birds and dinosaurs.
a. The skull resembled modern birds but it had teeth rather than a beak.
b. The skeleton was reptilian with clawed fingers, abdominal ribs and a long bony tail.
c. Feathers were unmistakably imprinted along the wings.
2. Zoologists had long recognized that birds and reptiles shared many similarities.
a. Both have skulls that abut the first neck vertebra by a single ball-and-socket joint.
b. Both have a single middle ear bone, the stapes.
c. The lower jaw in both is composed of five or six bones; in mammals there is one mandibular bone.
d. Both birds and reptiles excrete nitrogenous wastes as uric acid; mammals excrete urea.
e. Both lay similar yolked eggs; the embryo develops on the surface by shallow cleavage patterns.
3. Thomas Henry Huxley classified birds with theropod dinosaurs.
a. This group of dinosaurs has a long, mobile, S-shaped neck.
b. Theropods belong to the lineage of diaspid reptiles, the archosaurians, which includes crocodiles.
c. Fossil evidence from Spain, China, etc. is accumulating that Huxley’s theory is correct.
d. Dromeosaurs, a group of theropods that includes Velociraptor, share many additional derived
characteristics with birds, including a furcula (fused clavicles) and lunate wrist bones that permit
swiveling motions used in flight.
e. Additional evidence linking birds to dromeosaurs comes from recently described fossils from late
Jurassic and early Cretaceous deposits in China
f. These fossils, including Proachaepteryx and Caudipteryx, are dromeosaurs-like theropods, but
with feathers.
g. The feathers of dromeosaurs could not have been used for powered flight, but may have been used
in social displays.
h. Additional theropod dinosaurs recently unearthed in China, such as Sinosauropteryx, are covered
with filaments that appear to be homologous with feathers.

27-1
Chapter 27 - Birds

B. Relationships
1. Modern birds include Paleognathae with a flat sternum and Neognathae with a keeled sternum.
2. Original theories were based on the Paleognathae, or ratite lineage, never having attained flight.
3. This is now rejected; flightlessness has evolved many times among many bird groups.
4. Smaller birds can revert to flightlessness on islands that lack terrestrial predators.
5. Larger flightless birds such as the ostrich and emu can outrun predators.
6. Flightless birds are free from the weight restrictions of flight and some evolved to very large sizes.
27.3. Structural and Functional Adaptations for Flight
A. Feathers
1. Structure (Figure 27.5)
a. The feather is a special bird adaptation that contributes to more power or less weight.
b. The hollow quill emerges from the skin follicle and continues as a shaft or rachis.
c. The rachis bears numerous barbs.
d. Up to several hundred barbs are arranged to form a flat, webbed surface, the vane.
e. Each barb resembles a miniature feather; numerous parallel filaments or barbules spread laterally.
f. With up to 600 barbules in each side of a barb, there may be over one million in the whole feather.
g. Barbules from two neighboring barbs overlap; they “zip” together with tiny hooks.
h. When separated, they are “zipped” back together by preening.
2. Types of Feathers
a. Contour feathers provide the form of the bird; flight feathers extend off the wing in flight.
b. Down feathers are under contour feathers; their barbules lack hooks and function as insulation.
c. Filoplume feathers are hairlike, degenerate feathers with a weak shaft and tuft of short barbs.
d. Powder-down feathers on herons and their relatives disintegrate and release a talc-like powder to
waterproof feathers.
3. Origin and Development
a. The bird feather is homologous to the reptile scale.
b. The feather develops from an epidermal elevation over a nourishing dermal core.
c. Rather than flattening, the feather bud rolls into a cylinder.
d. During growth, pigments are added to the epidermal cells.
e. Near the end of its growth, the soft rachis and barbs transform into hard structures of keratin.
f. When the protective sheath splits apart, the feather protrudes and the barbs unfold.
4. Molting (Figure 27.6)
a. The fully-grown feather is a dead structure; shedding or molting is an orderly process.
b. Except in penguins, molting is a gradual process that avoids leaving bare spots.
c. Flight and tail feathers are lost in pairs, one on each side, to maintain balance.
d. In some species, replacement is continuous; therefore flight is unimpaired.
e. In many water birds, primary feathers are molted all at once and the birds are temporarily
grounded.
f. Most birds molt once a year, usually in late summer after the nesting season.
5. Color
a. Feather color may be due to pigments or to structural color.
b. Pigments, or lipochromes, color red, orange and yellow feathers.
c. Black, brown, red-brown, and gray colors are from the pigment melanin.
d. The blue color of the blue jay, indigo bunting and bluebird is from scattering of light by structure.
B. Skeleton (Figures 27.7, 27.8)
1. Bone Weight
a. Compared with the Archeopteryx, modern birds have light, delicate bones laced with air cavities.
b. These are termed pneumatized bones; they are nevertheless strong.
c. The total weight of a bird’s feathers may outweigh its skeleton.
2. Bird Skull
a. As archosaurs, birds evolved from ancestors with diapsid skulls.
b. Bird skulls are so specialized that it is difficult to see the diapsid condition.
c. The skull is fused into one piece; the braincase and orbits are large to hold a larger brain and eyes.
d. While the skull is lighter, the legs are heavier than in mammals; this lowers the center of gravity.
3. Jaws
a. In Archeopteryx, both jaws contained teeth set in sockets.

27-2
Chapter 27 - Birds

b. Modern birds have a horny keratinous beak molded around bony jaws.
c. Most birds have kinetic skulls; in some, the upper jaw is hinged to the skull.
4. Vertebral Column and Appendages
a. The bird vertebral column is very rigid; vertebrae are fused except for the cervical vertebrae.
b. Additional bony structures called uncinate processes are fused with the pelvic girdle to support
legs and provide rigidity for flight.
c. Ribs are mostly fused with the vertebrae, pectoral girdle and sternum.
d. Except in flightless birds, the sternum bears a large keel for anchorage of flight muscles.
e. Bones of forelimbs are highly modified for flight, with some bones reduced in number or fused.
f. All of the elements of the basic vertebrate limb are represented in modified form.
g. The bird’s legs have undergone less modification since their function remains walking, etc.
h. Most caudal vertebrae are fused into a pygostyle.
i. Fused clavicles form an elastic furcula that apparently stores energy as it flexes during wing
beats.
C. Muscular System (Figures 27.9, 27.10)
1. The pectoralis muscles depress the wing in flight and are attached to the keel.
2. The supracoracoideus muscle raises the wing, is also attached to the keel, lays under the pectoralis
muscles, and pulls the wing up from below by way of a “rope-and-pulley” type of arrangement.
3. Having both muscles low in the body provides aerodynamic stability.
4. The main leg muscle mass is in the thigh with connections by long tendons to the feet and toes.
5. A toe-locking mechanism prevents a perching bird from falling off a branch while asleep.
6. Birds have lost the long reptilian tail and substituted a muscle mound where tail feathers are rooted.
7. As many as 1000 muscles may control the tail feathers for steering in flight.
8. The neck is thoroughly interwoven with stringy muscles to provide great flexibility.
D. Food, Feeding and Digestion (Figure 27.11)
1. Insect Eaters
a. In their early evolution, birds were carnivorous, primarily feeding on the great variety of insects.
b. Modern birds have specialized to hunt nearly all types of insects in most habitats.
2. Other Diets
a. Other animals joined the diet of birds, including worms, molluscs, crustaceans, fish, frogs, etc.
b. Nearly one-fifth of birds feed on nectar.
c. Euryphagous species eat a wide variety of items and can switch to whatever is seasonally
abundant.
d. Stenophagous species are specialists but are vulnerable if their food source is jeopardized.
e. The beaks of birds often reveal their food habits and vary between seed-eaters, insect-eaters, etc.
f. A woodpecker has a straight, hard, chisel-like beak to expose insect burrows; its long, flexible,
barbed tongue seeks out the insects in the wood galleries.
3. Food Quantity
a. Contrary to the saying “to eat like a bird” meaning “to eat little,” birds are voracious feeders.
b. Birds have a high metabolic rate and small birds need even more food per body mass.
c. A hummingbird uses oxygen 12 times faster than a pigeon and 25 times that of a chicken.
d. A hummingbird eats 100% of its body weight each day, a blue tit about 30% and a chicken, 3.4%.
e. Birds have rapid and efficient digestive systems.
1) A shrike can digest a mouse in three hours.
2) A thrush will pass berries through the tract in just 30 minutes.
f. Because birds lack teeth, foods that require grinding are cut apart in the gizzard.
g. Salivary glands are poorly developed, but lubricate both the food and the slender tongue.
h. There are few taste buds, but birds can taste to some extent.
i. A long, muscular esophagus extends from pharynx to stomach.
j. Many birds have a crop that serves to store food at the lower end of the esophagus.
k. The crop of pigeons, doves and some parrots, also produces a lipid- and protein-rich “milk.”
l. The stomach consists of a proventriculus that secretes gastric juice and a gizzard that grinds food.
m. Birds may also swallow pebbles or grit to assist in grinding in the gizzard.
n. Birds of prey such as owls form a pellet of indigestible material in the proventriculus and eject it.
o. Paired ceca are at the junction of the intestine and rectum; they serve as fermentation chambers.

27-3
Chapter 27 - Birds

p.The end of the digestive system is the cloaca, which also receives the products from the genital
ducts and ureters.
E. Circulatory System
1. The four-chambered heart is large, with strong ventricular walls.
2. Birds share with mammals a complete separation of respiratory and systemic circulations.
3. The right aortic arch, instead of the left as in mammals, leads to the dorsal aorta.
4. The two jugular veins in the neck have a cross vein shunt to continue circulation as the head rotates.
5. The brachial and pectoral arteries to the wings and breast are unusually large.
6. The heartbeat is relatively fast compared to mammals and is inversely proportional to size.
a. A turkey heart beats 93 times per minute.
b. A chicken heart beats 250 times per minute.
c. A small black-capped chickadee heart beats 500 times per minute.
7. Bird red blood cells (erythrocytes) are nucleated and biconvex.
8. Mobile phagocytes are active and efficient in repairing wounds and destroying microbes.
F. Respiratory System (Figure 27.12)
1. The bird respiratory system differs radically from the lungs of both reptiles and mammals.
2. Bird Lungs
a. The finest branches of the bronchi do not terminate in alveoli but are tube-like parabronchi.
b. Air sacs extend into the thorax, abdomen, and even the long bones.
c. A large portion of the air bypasses the lungs and flows directly to the air sacs on inspiration.
d. On expiration, this oxygenated air flows through the lungs; therefore there is continuous air flow.
e. Thus it takes two respiratory cycles for a single breath of air to pass through the system.
f. This is the most efficient respiratory system of any vertebrate.
3. An air sac system helps cool a bird during vigorous exercise when up to 27 times more heat is
produced.
4. The air sacs extend into bones, legs and wings, providing considerable buoyancy to the bird.
G. Excretory System (Figure 27.13)
1. A pair of large metanephric kidneys is composed of many thousands of nephrons.
2. Each nephron has a renal corpuscle and a nephric tubule.
3. Birds use the vertebrate pattern of glomerular filtration and selective resorption.
4. Urine flows through ureters to the cloaca.
5. Uric Acid
a. Birds also use the reptilian adaptation of excreting nitrogenous wastes as uric acid.
b. In shelled eggs, all excretory products remain within the eggshell; uric acid is stored harmlessly.
c. Since uric acid has low solubility, a bird can use far less water to excrete wastes.
d. Concentration of uric acid occurs almost entirely in the cloaca where water is absorbed.
e. A bird kidney is less efficient than a mammal kidney in removing ions of sodium, etc.
f. Mammal kidneys can concentrate solutes to 4–25 times that of the blood; avian kidneys
concentrate solutes only a little greater than the blood concentration.
g. Marine birds must excrete larger salt loads due to the food they eat and seawater they drink; salt
glands located above each eye excrete highly concentrated solutions.
h. Salt solution runs out the nostrils; thus gulls and other sea birds have a perpetual “runny nose.”
H. Nervous and Sensory Systems (Figures 27.14, 27.15)
1. A bird’s nervous and sensory system must accommodate the problems of flight and a visual lifestyle.
2. The bird’s brain has well-developed cerebral hemispheres, cerebellum and midbrain tectum.
3. The cerebral cortex, a chief coordinating center in mammals, is thin, unfissured and poorly developed.
4. The core of the cerebrum, the corpus striatum, is enlarged into the principal integrating center.
5. The size of the cerebral hemisphere is directly related to the intelligence of the bird.
6. The cerebellum is where muscle-position sense (proprioception), equilibrium sense and visual cues are
assembled.
7. The optic lobes bulge to each side of the midbrain and form a visual association apparatus.
8. Sense of smell is poorly developed except in flightless birds, ducks and vultures.
9. Birds have good hearing and superb vision, the best in the animal kingdom.
10. The bird ear is similar to the ear of mammals.
a. The external ear canal leads to an eardrum.

27-4
Chapter 27 - Birds

b. The middle ear contains a rod-like columella that transmits vibrations to the inner ear.
c. An inner ear has a short cochlea; it allows birds to hear about the same range of sound as humans.
d. Bird ears do not hear as high a frequency as do humans, but surpass us in ability to distinguish
differences in pitch and intensities.
11. The bird eye is similar to the mammal eye, but it is relatively larger for a given body size.
a. A bird eye is less spherical and almost immobile; a bird turns its head rather than its eyes.
b. The light-sensitive retina has both rods and cones.
c. Diurnal birds have more cones; nocturnal birds have more rods.
d. A pecten is a highly vascularized organ attached to the retina and it juts into the vitreous humor; it
may provide oxygen and nutrients to the eye.
e. Herbivores must avoid predators and they have eyes placed to each side to view all directions.
f. Birds of prey have eyes directed forward to provide better depth perception.
g. Many birds have two foveae or regions of detailed vision; this provides both sharp monocular and
binocular vision.
h. A hawk has eight times the visual acuity of a human and can see a rabbit over a kilometer away.
i. An owl’s ability to see in dim light is more than ten times that of a human.
j. Many birds can see partially into the ultraviolet spectrum, seeing flower nectar guides.
I. Flight
1. History
a. The early airspace was an unexploited habitat with flying insects for food.
b. Flight also provided rapid escape from predators and ability to travel to better environments.
c. There are two hypotheses on the evolution of bird flight.
1) The “ground-up” (cursorial) hypothesis is based on running birds with primitive wings to
snare insects.
2) The “trees-down” (arboreal) hypothesis has birds passing through tree-climbing, leaping,
parachuting, gliding, and finally powered flight.
d. Feathers preceded flight and arose for thermoregulatory purposes.
e. There is no evidence for bird ancestors first being membrane-winged.
f. The debate about the origin of flight has not been settled.
2. Bird Wing as a Lift Device (Figure 27.16)
a. The modified hand bones with attached primary feathers provide the propulsion.
b. Lift is provided by the more medial part of the wing and secondary feathers of the forearm.
c. A wing is streamlined with a concave lower surface.
d. The leading edge of the wing has small tight-fitting feathers.
e. Over two-thirds of the total lift comes from negative pressure from the airstream flowing a longer
distance over the top of the wing, the convex surface.
f. Lift-to-drag ratio is determined by the angle of tilt and the airspeed.
g. At high speeds, sufficient lift is generated so that the wing is held at a low angle of attack, creating
less drag.
h. At a point near 15o, the angle of attack becomes too steep and stalling occurs.
i. Stalling is delayed or prevented by a wing slot along the leading edge to direct rapidly moving air
across the leading surface.
1) In some birds the alula, or group of small feathers on the “thumb,” provides a midwing slot.
2) Slotting between the primary feathers provides a wing-tip slot.
3. Flapping Flight (Figures 27.17, 27.18)
a. Flapping flight requires a vertical lifting force and a horizontal thrusting force.
b. Thrust is provided by primaries at the wing tips and lift is provided by the secondaries.
c. Greatest power is provided by the downstroke.
d. Primary feathers are bent upward and twist to a steep angle of attack.
e. On the upstroke, the primary feathers bend so that their upper surfaces twist to produce thrust.
f. The powered upstroke is essential for hovering and fast, steep takeoffs.
4. Wing Dynamics at Low and High Speeds (Figure 27.19)
a. The lift-to-drag ratio is determined by the angle of attack (angle of tilt) and airspeed.
b. At high speeds, the wing is held at low angle of attack, creating less drag.
c. As speed decreases, lift is generated by increasing the angle of attack, but this also increases drag.

27-5
Chapter 27 - Birds

d. Stalling occurs when the angle of attack is too steep (around 15 degrees) because of turbulence on
the upper surface.
e. Stalling can be delayed or prevented by wing slots, which directs a layer of rapidly moving air
across the upper surface of the wing (Figure 27.19C)
f. In birds, two types of wing slots occur: alula, a group of small feathers on the thumb providing a
mid-wing slot; and gaps between primary feathers, causing wing-tip slots.
g. Wing-tip vortexes, eddies of air at the tips of wings, are problematic at high speeds because they
create drag (Figure 27.19D).
h. The effects of wing-tip vortexes are reduced in wings with pointed tips and in long wings with
widely separated tips (high-aspect ratio wings).
5. Basic Forms of Bird Wings (Figures 27.20)
a. Elliptical Wings
1) Birds that must maneuver in forested habitats have elliptical wings.
2) Elliptical wings are slotted between primary feathers to prevent stalling at low speeds, etc.
3) The small chickadee can change its course within 0.03 seconds.
b. High-Speed Wings
1) Birds that feed on the wing or make long migrations have high-speed wings.
2) These wings sweep back and taper to a slender tip; this reduces “tip vortex” turbulence.
3) They are flat in section and lack wing-tip slotting.
c. Dynamic Soaring wings
1) Albatrosses, gannets and other oceanic soaring birds have wings with long, narrow wings.
2) The high-aspect ratio of long, narrow wings lack wing slots and allow high speed, high lift
and dynamic soaring.
3) They have the highest aerodynamic efficiency of any design, but are less maneuverable.
4) These birds exploit the highly reliable sea winds and air currents of different velocities.
d. High-Lift Wings
1) Vultures, hawks, eagles, owls and other birds of prey that carry heavy loads have wings with
slotting, alulas and pronounced camber.
2) This produces high lift at slow speed.
3) Wings of these birds have an aspect ratio intermediate between elliptical wings and high
aspect ratio wings.
4) Many are land soarers; their broad, slotted wings allow sensitive response for static soaring.
27.4. Migration and Navigation (Figure 27.21)
A. Migration
1. About half of all bird species migrate.
2. They can move between southern wintering regions and northern summer breeding regions.
3. They can exploit seasonal changes in abundance of insects and avoid bird predators.
4. Appearing one time a year prevents buildup of specialized predators.
5. Migration also expands living space and reduces aggressive territorial behavior.
6. Migration favors homeostasis, allowing birds to avoid climatic extremes and food shortages.
B. Migration Routes
1. Most migratory birds follow established north-south routes.
2. Some use different routes in the fall and spring.
3. Some aquatic species make rapid journeys; others such as warblers take 50–60 days to migrate.
4. Smaller species migrate at night and feed by day; others are daytime migrants.
5. Many birds follow landmarks; some fly over large bodies of water.
6. Some have very narrow migration lanes; others have wide migration lanes.
7. The Arctic tern circles from North America to coastlines of Europe and Africa to winter quarters, a
total of 18,000 kilometers (11,200 miles).
C. Stimulus for Migration
1. The long days of late winter and early spring stimulate development of gonads and fat.
2. Long day length stimulates the anterior lobe of the pituitary.
3. Release of pituitary gonadotropic hormone sets in motion a complex series of physiological and
behavioral changes resulting in gonadal growth, fat deposition, migration, courtship, mating behavior
and care of young.
D. Direction Finding in Migration (Figure 27.22)

27-6
Chapter 27 - Birds

1. Experiments suggest birds navigate chiefly by sight.

2. Birds recognize topographical landmarks and follow familiar migratory routes.
3. This pools navigational resources and also experience of older birds.
4. Birds have a highly accurate sense of time.
5. Research indicates they can navigate by the earth’s magnetic field; this may be related to magnetite
found in the neck musculature of pigeons.
6. Sun-azimuth Orientation
a. German ornithologists used special cages to show birds navigate by sun at day and stars at night.
b. Planetarium experiments revealed they use the sun as a compass; an internal clock tracks position.
c. These experiments suggest use of the North Star as an axis at night.
7. Migration involves a combination of environmental and innate cues.
8. Natural selection culls individuals that make errors; only the best navigators leave offspring.
27.5. Social Behavior and Reproduction (Figures 27.23, 27.24)
A. Cooperative Behavior
1. Sea birds often gather in huge colonies to nest and to rear young.
2. Land birds, except for birds such as starlings and rooks, tend to seek isolation for rearing their brood.
3. Birds that isolate during breeding may congregate for migration or feeding.
4. There are many advantages for flocking together:
a. mutual protection from enemies,
b. greater ease in finding mates,
c. less opportunity for an individual straying during migration and
d. mass huddling for protection against low night temperatures during migration.
5. Pelicans use organized cooperative behavior to feed.
6. Organized social interactions of birds are most noticeable during breeding season; they stake out
territory, select mates, build nests, incubate and hatch eggs, and rear young.
B. Reproductive System (Figures 27.25, 27.26)
1. Bird testes are very small until the approach of the breeding season, when they may enlarge 300 times.
2. Before discharge, sperm are stored in a greatly enlarged seminal vesicle.
3. Males of most species lack a penis; mating involves bringing cloacal surfaces in contact.
4. In most birds, the left ovary and oviduct develop and the right ovary and oviduct degenerate.
5. The expanded end of the oviduct, the infundibulum, receives the discharged eggs.
6. Special glands add albumin or egg white to the egg as it passes down the oviduct.
7. Farther down the oviduct, the shell membrane, shell, and shell pigments are also secreted.
8. Fertilization must therefore take place in the upper oviduct before albumin and shell are added.
9. Sperm remain alive in the oviduct for many days after a single mating.
C. Mating Systems (Figures 27.27)
1. Over 90% of bird species are monogamous; they only mate with one partner each breeding season.
2. Monogamy: In a few species, such as swans and geese, partners are chosen for life.
3. A smaller number are polygamous; individuals mate with two or more partners each breeding season.
4. Because of their high monogamy rate, compared to mammals, birds lack a built-in food supply and
require the parental care from both parents to provision the young.
5. Females enforce monogamy by selecting males that will not divide their time with another female.
6. Bird Territories
a. A male sings often to announce his presence to females and drive away males.
b. Females wander about to select a male that offers the best chance of reproductive success.
c. Usually a male can defend an area that provides just enough resources for one nesting female.
7. Polygamy:
a. The most common form of polygamy is polygyny, where one male mates with many females.
b. Male grouse collect at a lek where each has a small territory to display to males.
c. The male grouse does not care for young.
d. Competition for females is intense and females appear to choose the dominant male for mating.
e. Recent DNA analyses have shown many passerine species frequently are “unfaithful,” engaging in
extra-pair copulations; nests of many of these species may contain 30 percent of young with
fathers other than the attendant male.
f. In many monogamous birds both male and female birds are equally adept at most aspects of
parental care.

27-7
Chapter 27 - Birds

g. Polyandry in which a female mates with several males and the male incubates the eggs, is
relatively rare in birds.
D. Nesting and Care of Young (Figures 27.28, 27.29)
1. Nearly all birds lay eggs that must be incubated by one or both parents.
2. Eggs of most songbirds require 14 days for hatching; those of ducks and geese may require a month.
3. Often the female performs most of the duties of incubation; rarely the male has equal or sole duties.
4. Some birds merely lay eggs on bare ground or rocks.
5. Others build elaborate nests using mud, lichens, brush, etc.
6. Nests are often carefully concealed from enemies.
7. Woodpeckers, chickadees, bluebirds and others nest in tree hollows and other cavities.
8. Cuckoos and cowbirds are nest parasites; they lay eggs in other bird’s nests.
9. Precocial birds are able to feed and run or swim as soon as they are hatched.
10. Altricial birds are naked and helpless at birth and must be fed in the nest for a week or more.
11. Nesting success in altricial birds is very low; sometimes barely 20% of nests produce young.
12. Causes of nesting failure include predators, nest parasites and other factors.
27.6. Bird Populations and Their Conservation (Figures 27.30, 27.31)
A. Factors
1. Bird populations vary in size from year to year.
2. Birds of prey may cycle with the food supply; for example, snowy owl populations vary with the
rodents they eat.
3. When food supplies crash, the birds may move elsewhere to locate alternative food supplies.
4. Humans have introduced birds to new regions; the starling and the house sparrow are both abundant
now in the United States.
5. Since the dodo went extinct in 1695, more than 80 bird species have also become extinct due to human
influence.
6. Causes of bird extinction include habitat destruction and hunting.
7. Modern hunting interests have helped recover wetlands; no legally hunted birds are endangered.
8. Recent Decline of Songbirds
a. Some songbird species that were abundant 40 years ago are in decline.
b. Agriculture has utilized once-fallow fields.
c. Fragmentation of forests in the United States exposes nests to nest predators.
d. House cats are formidable predators that kill many songbirds.
e. The loss of tropical forests also deprives about 250 migratory songbirds of their wintering homes.
f. Birds stressed in their wintering grounds are therefore in poor condition to make northward
migrations.
g. Some species are adversely affected by deforestation: others such as robins, sparrows and starlings
can accommodate these changes.
27.7. Classification of Class Aves (Figures 27.32–27.35)
Superorder Paleognathae Order Accipitriformes
Order Struthioniformes Order Falconiformes
Order Rheiformes Order Otidiformes
Order Casuariiformes Order Mesitornithiformes
Order Apterygiformes Order Cariamiformes
Order Tinamiformes Order Eurpygiformes
Superorder Neognathae Order Gruiformes
Order Anseriformes Order Charadriiformes
Order Galliformes Order Pterocliformes
Order Sphenisciformes Order Columbiformes
Order Gaviiformes Order Psittaciformes
Order Podicipediformes Order Opisthocomiformes
Order Phoenicopteriformes Order Musophagiformes
Order Procellariiformes Order Cuculiformes
Order Pelicaniformes Order Strigiformes
Order Phaethontiformes Order Caprimulgiformes
Order Suliformes Order Apodiformes
Order Ciconiiformes Order Coliiformes

27-8
Chapter 27 - Birds

Order Trogoniformes Order Bucerotiformes

Order Leptosomiformes Order Piciformes
Order Coraciiformes Order Passeriformes

27-9