ORN Lab 9

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ORN Lab 9

• Photos courtesy of
• http//www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBird
  s/BirdGuide/

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Order Strigiformes Owls

• Nocturnal foragers, diurnal roosters
• Often hear at night
• Excellent hearing (see adaptations)
• E.g., facial disks funnel sound to ears
• E.g., right and left ear openings differ in size,
  shape, and height on head to increase hearing
  efficiency
• Large eyes (fixed in place by sclerotic rings)
• Soft plumage silent flight
• Can find regurgitated owl pellets in day
• These are indigestible parts of prey
• www.owlpages.com for more info.

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Family Tytonidae (Barn Owls) -heart-shaped facial
disk -no ear tufts
Barn Owl -well-adapted to cities (nests in old
buildings often) -call is a hissing screech
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Family Strigidae (true owls) -round facial
disk -most nest in tree cavities
Great-horned owl -largest TX owl -eat
skunks (only animal to do so) -crepuscular (active
dawn dusk)
Eastern screech owl -red and gray
phases -smallest eared owl in TX
Barred owl -large, chunky owl -inhabits river
bottoms
Burrowing owl -often seen on ground in
day -burrows in large rodent holes -found in open
fields/prairies
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Order CaprimulgiformesFamily Caprimulgidae
Goatsuckers(nighthawks, nightjars)
-Night-hunters -large, bristled gape (helps
them catch insects) -small bill -large
eyes -soft feathers (for silent flight) -long,
pointed wings -In day, rest on ground or in
limbs -so, cryptically colored -Distinctive
calls (loud and unusual) -Crepuscular (active
dawn and dusk)
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Common Nighthawk -agile flyer -thus, pointy wings
slightly forked tail -variety of habitats
Common Poorwill -smallest nightjar -Hibernates in
rock crevices in winter, when Body temp. drops
from 40C to 19C (this is why it is gray) -flys up
from ground to catch insects
Chuck-wills-widow -largest nightjar -lives in
woodlands (this is why it is brown)
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Order Apodiformes(swifts, hummingbirds)
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Family Apodidae Swifts

• Spend most of day flying, catching insects
• Thus, long, pointy wings
• Facial bristles provide protection while flying
• When not flying, perch vertically on walls, tree
  trunks
• Thus, pamprodactyl feet
• And, spinose retrices
• Chimney swift
• Small, cigar-shaped birds
• Nests in chimneys

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Family Trochilidae Hummingbirds

• Tiny birds with long, slender bill and twittery
  calls
• Eat insects, nectar, spiders
• Thus, often seen hovering at flowers, using a
  figure-8 motion with their wings
• Only family that can fly backwards
• Beat wings at 50-200 cycles/second
• Smallest is 5cm long and weight of a dime
• Beautiful, metallic colors

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Ruby-throated hummingbird -Only hummingbird found
in eastern US
female
male
Black-chinned hummingbird -Found in
central/western TX -In cold weather, they can
ingest 3x their body weight in nectar in 1 day
(male)
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Order CoraciiformesFamily Alcedinidae
Kingfishers

• Plunge into water to catch fish
• Dig nest burrows in stream banks
• Thus, large compressed bills

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Belted Kingfisher -Hover above water looking for
fish -Sometimes beat fish against trees to kill
them -Reverse sexual dimorphism
female
male
Green Kingfisher (male) (http//www.briansmallphot
o.com/ gallery/grki2.html)
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Order PicaformesFamily Picadae Woodpeckers

• Eat sap, insects, and spiders (usually out of
  trees)
• And, build nests in tree cavities
• Thus
• chisel-like bills
• Stiff tail feathers (for clinging)
• Sharp claws
• Long, bristled tongues
• Hyoid bones (allow tongues to extend far out of
  mouths)

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Red-headed Woodpecker (red/brown head) -white rump
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (gold nape) -found in
arid environments
adult
male
female
immature
Red-bellied Woodpecker (red nape)
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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (red forecrown) Drill
horizontal rows of holes in trees, then Return
to eat sap and insects stuck to it
(males on left, females on right)
Ladder-backed Woodpecker -black C extending
from eye to top of bill -lives in arid habitats
Downy Woodpecker (white streak on barred back)
-common in woodlands, suburbs
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Northern flicker -forage for ants on
ground -sometimes they lay in ant hills Ants run
all over them and cover Them with formic acid
this acts As a natural insecticide -males have
black/red mustache stripe
Pileated woodpecker -largest in N America (size
of crow) -carves large, oval holes in
trees -found in riparian area with dense, mature
forest
Yellow-shafted
Male (red mustache stripe)
female
male
female
Red-shafted