Birds

I. Bird Characteristics

• 1. forelimbs modified into wings

• 2. hindlimbs modified for swimming, walking or perching.

• 3. Feathers

• 4. Warmblooded

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• 5. four chambered heart

• 6. legs with claws and scales

• 7. no teeth

• 8. thin, hollow bones

• 9. many bones fused together

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• 10. air sacs for extra oxygen while flying• 11. excellent sight and sense of

balance• 12. lay hardshelled eggs• 13. large pectoral muscles• 14. molt (shed) feathers

II. Bird Diversity

• 1. vertebrate class Aves

• 2. 27 orders

• 3. 165 families

• 4. 8700 species

• 5. 383 species observed in Ks (half national total)

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• 6. 149 species are transients

• 7. 234 are residents all or part of the year (55 perm, 127 summer, 53 winter)

• 8. 20 of the orders are found in Ks.

III. Bird Adaptations

• 1. different types of feathers; flight, down, contour and tail

• 2. Feathers;camouflage, attract mate, insulate, waterproof, streamline, acting like ears (owls)

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• 3.nests –wide variety of styles, sizes and sites

• 4.number of eggs varies, care of young is precocial or altricial

• 5. most vocalize to mark territory and/or attract a mate

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• 6.excellent sight, poor smell and variable hearing

• 7. beaks and feet modified for many different uses, see next slides

• Last, a vocabulary list

Vocabulary

• Altricial

• Arboreal

• Carnivorous

• Crepuscular

• Diurnal

• Gregarious

• Herbivorous

• Nocturnal

• Ornithology

• Piscivorous

• Precocial

• Solitary

• Terrestrial

Beaks

• Ducks: sieve-like bill edge strains out water plants and animals• Woodpecker: hard,

sharp chisel mounted on extra-thick skull.

More beaks

• Herons: long neck and bill are spring-loaded spear

• Warblers: precision tool picks small insects off trees

• Finches (Cardinal):seedeaters are equipped with a nutcracker

• Hummingbird: long thin tube dips deep into flowers for nectar

• Hawks: strongly hooked bill tears prey apart.

HOURS – Dec. 13th

KU Museum of Natural History

• Floors of the Museum

• Directions

Squaw Creek NWR

• 4 hours credit for next three weekends only

• (Lots of pics)