Ornithology exam3

large, flat fused palate (like humans)- rigid…limited bill mobility

Paleognathae (“Ratites”)

Are able to fly compared to ither Paleognathaes

Tinamiformes

common name: White-throated Tinamou

Neotropics only 

Tinamou eggs – very colorful with hard gloss

Tinamiformes

Family: Struthionidae (Ostrich)

1 Genus

2-toed 

Africa only

Struthionifomes

Family: Rheidae

Common name: Greater Rhea

3 toed

Rheiformes

Family: Casuariidae

Common name: Double-wattled Cassowary

3-toed with dagger like claws

Casuariiformes

Family: Casuariidae

Common name: Emu

Casuariiformes

Family: Apterygidae

Common name: Great Spotted Kiwi

New Zealand

Nocturnal

Small eyes

Great olfactory system

Eggs can be ~25% of their body weight

Apterygiformes

Water & landfowl

Galloanseres

Family Phasianidae

major family including pheasant, turkey, chicken, grouse, quail, etc.

Med-large terrestrial birds

Common name: Ring-necked Pheasant

Galliformes

Common name: Red Junglefowl

Family: Phasianidae

Large clutches (>10 eggs)

Precocious young

Galliformes

Family: Phasianidae

Common name: Wild Turkey

Galliformes

Common name: Sage Grouse & Spruce Grouse

Family: Phasianidae

Galliformes

Family: Anatidae (“waterfowl”) …ducks and allies

Common name: Canada Goose

Worldwide distribution

UNIQUE:

• Unique bill / tongue that can act as suction pump & filter

• Duck bill w/ lamellae

• Palmate Feet

• Dense plumage / waterproof

Anseriformes

Family: Phoenicopteridae

Common name: American Flamingo

Tropics (except Australia) – mainly S. Hemisphere

UNIQUE:

• Diet: mainly brine shrimp & blue-green algae

• Feather color: beta carotene in their diet

Phoenicopteriformes

Family: Podicipedidae

Common name: Red-necked Grebe

FACTS

• Aquatic, heavy-bodied diving bird

• Relatively solid bones

• Floating platform nests

• Swim with young on their back

Podicipediformes

Family: Podicipedidae

Common name: Pied-billed Grebe

Interesting side-note on Grebe feathers:

• Dense and waterproof

• Innermost feathers attach at right-angle to body, then curl back at the tip

• By pressing these feathers close to body, they can adjust buoyancy to float with just the upper part of their body/head above water

Podicipediformes

Family: Columbidae

Common name: Rock Dove

FACTS:

• Plump birds, small heads, short leges

• Fleshy cere that covers the base of bill/nostril

• Muscular gizzard & large crop

• Produce crop milk (both males and females)

• Can continuously drink by sucking up water rather than ‘dip-and-tip’ method

Columbiformes

Family: Columbidae

Common name: Passenger Pigeon

were hunted to extinction

Columbiformes

Family: Raphidae (extinct)

Common name: Dodo

Flightless, ~40lbs

Columbiformes

Family: Caprimulgidae

Common name: Eastern Whip-poor-will, Common Nighthawk, Tawny Frogmouth, Common Pooto

Features:

• Nocturnal/crepuscular

• Lush Plumage

• Weak legs

• Good sight at night

• LARGE mouths surrounded by bristle

Caprimulgiformes

Family: Apodidae Common name: White-throated Swift and Common swift

Features:

• Aerial insectivores - diurnal

• Many are cave-dwelling

• Most are pamprodactyl

Caprimulgiformes

New World ONLY

Common name: Sword-billed Hummingbird

(longer bill than body)

Caprimulgiformes

Cranes, rails and coots

Family: Rallidae → Rails, Coots, Gallinules/Moorhens

Common name: Clapper Rail, Coot (has lobate feet)

Features:

Generally lacks a crop

Gruiformes

Family: Gruidae

Common name: Whooping Crane

features:

red-crowned cranes dance

elongated and coiled trachea

Heron: Order Pelecaniformes Stork:

Gruiformes

Family: Scolopacidae

Common name: Spotted Sandpiper

Feature:

• shorebird shuffle

Charadriiformes

Family: Laridae

Common name: Herring Gull

Charadriiformes

Family: Gaviidae

Common name: Common Loon

Holarctic (northern continents)

Features:

• babies rest on back

• build nest on water

Gaviiformes

Family: Spheniscidae

Common name: Chinstrap Penguin, Chinstrap Penguin, Rockhopper Penguin, Gentoo Penguin

Features:

• →All are in southern hemisphere

• →Most live in temperate zones

Sphenisciformes

Family: Diomedeidae

Common name: Wandering Albatross

Features: 

• Worldwide (although mainly in the southern oceans) 

• All pelagic. Most are colonial nesters (1 egg per clutch) 

• Tube-nosed birds” – to excrete salt

Procellariiformes

Family: Ciconiidae

Common name: Wood Stork

Features:

• Large, long-legged, long-necked wading bird

• Mainly carnivorous

• Stout bill

• Degenerate / no syrinx

• bill clattering used for communication

• only three in the world

Ciconiiformes

Family: Sulidae

Common name: Northern Gannet

cormorants (- foot-propelled aquatic– feed on fish/squid), boobies, frigate birds, Anhingas, gannets

Features:

• -- All Totipalmate

• -- Plunge diving species have nostrils that open into bill rather than externally for protection

• -- Colonial nesters

• Bare gular pouch

Suliformes

Family: Pelecanidae

Common name: Brown Pelican

Worldwide

Features:

• -- Pelicans = totipalmate

• Most have non-functional nostrils

Pelecaniformes

Family: Ardeidae

Common name: Great Blue Heron

Ardeidae: herons, egrets, bitterns

Features:

• - Long-legged, long-necked freshwater and costal birds

• - Can retract necks into S-shape

• - Usually have a harpoon-like bil

Pelecaniformes

Family: Threskiornithidae

Common name: White Ibis & Roseate Spoonbill

Features:

• Large wading birds

• - Strong flyers & soarers

• - Long bills that are either decurved (Ibis) or flattened (spoonbills)

Pelecaniformes

Family: Accipitridae - Hawks, Eagles, Kites & Old-World Vultures

Features:

• Tendon locking mechanism

  • Tubercle pad and plicated sheath lock together

• For Sharp-shinned hawks, the females are usually 25 to 50% heavier

Accipitriformes

Common name: Turkey Vulture

Family: Cathartidae

Features:

• Bare heads

• - Perforate nostrils (no septum…so you can see right through their head from the side)

• - No syrinx (like storks)

• - Urohydrosis for evaporative cooling (also in storks which made researchers think they were closely related…which they are not!)

Accipitriformes

Family: Strigidae

Common name: Long-eared Owl

Features:

• Owl pellets – many birds make pellets (undigested material coughed up from proventriculus/gizzard)

• - Owls have larger pellets because they eat prey whole and have weaker digestive acids

• - Like Gruiformes, owls lack a crop

• - Large fixed eyes

Strigiformes

Family: Picidae

Common name: Downy Woodpecker

- Zygodactyl feet (and unique tendon arrangement)

- Stiffened tail feathers

Piciformes

Family: Ramphastidae

Common name: Keel-billed Toucan

- Neotropics only

- Bright coloration & LARGE bill

- Very little sexual dimorphism

Piciformes

Family: Alcedinidae

Common name: Belted Kingfisher

- Usually conspicuous (colorful)

- Small-med. sized- Stocky Bodies, Large heads & small feet

syndactyl feet

t- Most are cavity nesters

Coraciiformes

Family: Bucerotidae (you don’t need to memorize this family)

Common name: African Ground Hornbill

1ST 2 cervical vertebrae fused together (probably to support large bill)

Omnivores

Coraciiformes

Red-billed hornbill chick

Wrinkled hornbill

Females nest in tree holes and barricade themselves inside with the chicks

Coraciiformes

1 family: Falconidae

Common name: Prairie Falcon

American Kestrel

Merlin

Peregrine Falcon

Facts:

tooth on beak

Falconiformes

Common name: Scarlet Macaw

- Upright stance

- Zygodactyl feet

- Curved and STRONG bill

(upper mandible not fused to skull)

- Diet – mainly seeds, fruits, nuts

- Mostly tree-hole nesters

- Many are long-lived and intelligent

Psittaciformes

Common name:

Carolina Parakeet

Last sighted in 1910

Only one of this order that native to the United States

Psittaciformes

Kakapo (Strigops habroptilis)

Psittaciformes

Monk Parakeet

- native to Argentina/Paraguay

Populations now in 23 states

- ~200-300 have lived in Hyde Park, Chicago for 25 years

Psittaciformes

Family: Tyrannidae.

Genus: Sayornis

Common name: Eastern Phoebe

Suborder: Tyranni (also called suboscines) → Flycatchers

facts:

- Most species are plain (with some brilliant exceptions)

- Mostly opportunistic feeders (hawking, gleaning insects)

Passeriformes

Family: Thamnophilidae

(don’t need to memorize this family)

Common name: Antbirds

Passeriformes

Family: Cardinalidae

Common name: Rose-breasted Grosbeak,

Cardinal

Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Common name: Common Raven

Passeriformes

Family: Emberizidae

Common name: Song Sparrow,

White-throated Sparrow

Passeriformes

Family: Hirundinidae

Common name: Barn Swallow

Passeriformes

Family: Icteridae

Common name: Yellow-headed Blackbird,

Red-winged blackbird

Passeriformes

Family: Paridae

Common name:

Black-capped Chickadee,

Tufted titmouse

Passeriformes

Family:

Parulidae

Common name: Yellow Warbler,

Yellow-throated warbler

Passeriformes

Family: Sittidae

Common name: Red-breasted Nuthatch

Passeriformes

Family:

Turdidae

Common name:

Eastern Bluebird,

American Robin,

Wood Thrush

Passeriformes