Birds

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Birds
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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

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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.

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III. Bird Adaptations

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

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Vocabulary

• Altricial
• Arboreal
• Carnivorous
• Crepuscular
• Diurnal
• Gregarious
• Herbivorous

• Nocturnal
• Ornithology
• Piscivorous
• Precocial
• Solitary
• Terrestrial

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Beaks

• Ducks sieve-like bill edge strains out water
  plants and animals
• Woodpecker hard, sharp chisel mounted on
  extra-thick skull.

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More beaks

• Herons long neck and bill are spring-loaded
  spear
• Warblers precision tool picks small insects off
  trees

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• 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.

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HOURS Dec. 13th
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KU Museum of Natural History

• Floors of the Museum
• Directions

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Squaw Creek NWR
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• 4 hours credit for next three weekends only
• (Lots of pics)