BIRDS

kingdom: Animalia
phylum: Chordata
class: Aves
 warm – blooded
 tetrapods and bipeds
 developed from dinosuars
 can be found all around the world on land, near water, in forests or in desert
 aproximately 10 000 species and around 23 orders of birds

anatomy
head:
BEAK
 made of keratin, no teeth
 used for spreading oils over the feather and for removing any parasites
 a pair of nostrils at the base for smelling
EYES
 most species have very good eyesight, eyes are fixed
 birds have 3 eyelids
 the upper lid and the bottom lid + a special transparent eyelid that slides from side to side to protect the eye
from dust
BODY – birds’ whole bodies are covered with feathers made of keratin, the only exeption being their legs which are
covered with scales, muscled body
TAIL – ends in long feathers → rectrices
 helps the bird steer and maneuver in flight and also to balance while it is perched

feathers
 young birds are covered with small fluffy feathers (down feathers)
 as the bird grows, the down feathers fall out and are replaced by longer and straighter flight feathers
 barbs are interlocked with each other (it’s easy to separate them)
 bird puts barbs (adter they have been separated) back together by preening (rubbing the feather with its beak)

jobs of feather:
 make up the bird’s plumage - protection
 flight - by giving it large surface area to help keep the bird in the air
 insulation - by trapping a layer of air which holds the heat inside the body
 waterproof – oil (water tends to run straight off)
 enable birds to recognise each other due to their characteristic colours

adaptation for flight

featheres – insulation, give the bird are which it needs to be able to fly
hollow bones – the skeleton is lightweight, therefore good for flying
 beak instead of a heavy jawbone and teeth
 digestive system is very effective so they are not weighed down by waste

division
PASSERIFORMES
 passerine, perching bird, songbird
 make up more than half of all the birds
 distinguished by their toe arrangement (3 pointing forward and 1 pointing backward)
 have very good control over their syrinx muscles → wide variety of songs
there are 3 suborders:
Acanthisitti – almost extinct, found mainly on New Zealand, not very good fliers (new Zealand rock wren)
Tyranni (suboscines) – found mainly in South America (dusky-capped flycatcher)
Passeri (oscines) – found all around the world, their songs are territorial (palestine sunbird, blue jay, house sparrow)
FALCONIFORMES
 meat-eating hunters and scavengers
 feed on flesh of other animal they either kill or find dead
 strongly hooked beak, sharp talons and excellent eyesight
 wings, feet and tail vary according to hunting techniques, habitat and type of prey
 spread all over the world – deserts, forests, coastal shores
 show signs of sexual dimorphism –female is bigger than male
this order includes: hawks, eagles, falcons, condors, caracas, vultures and many more
representative: red-footed falcon, crested caraca, bald eagle

STRIGIFORMES (owls)
 can be found worldwide
 have well-developed talons, soft plumage
 their legs are very strong and feathered in some species
 large wing which enable them to fly slowly and quietly, active at night
 eyes are huge, forward-facing, elongated and have slightly thickened corneas and are fixed → they have to
turn their head in order to see either side
amazing hearing – they are able to hunt prey they can’t even see
= they have signature facial disk:
 circular disk = Typical-owls (Strigidae)
 heart-shaped disk = Barn-owls (Tytonidae)

ANSERIFORMES
 distributed worldwide (except for the Antarctic region)
 inhabiting aquatic environments
comprised of three families:
Anhimidae (screamers),
Anatidae (geese, swans and ducks)
Anseranatidae (magpie goose)
 the plumage varies from gray or brown to black and white and in some species with brightly coloured
ornaments or patches of colour
 their front toes are webbed (swimming)

skeleton and muscles

 body supported by an airy, lightweight, yet strong (e.g. fused vertebrae) skeleton made up of hollow bones
 large sternum protecting their internal organs, strong support for the attached muscles that power flight
 the largest muscles: the pectoral (breast) muscles
 attached to the long bone of the wing

nerves and senses

 brain, nereves and sense organs
 birds have the best sense of vision out of all the animals
 water bird have flexible lenses which allow them to see in air and even in water
 tetrachromatic – they have even UV sensitive cone cells
 hearing – well developed, mainly night birds – very good sense of hearing
very poor sense of smell, the exceptions: New World vultures, tubenoses or kiwis (almost blind, very good smell)

respiration
 one of the most complex respiratory systems out of all the animals
 consists of: nostrils, trachea, lungs, and air sacs
 with every breath, almost all of the oxygen in the lungs is replaced
 when flying, birds require ten to twenty times more oxygen than at rest
AIR: nostrils – trachea – lungs – air sacs (there it cools internal organs, maintain body temperature)
OXYGEN: bloodstream – body cells

circulatory system
 closed, very effective
 consists of a 4-chamber heart and blood vessels (carry oxygen around the body)
digestion
do not have any teeth – the food, which is swallowed whole, must be grind up
hollow tube that extends from the mouth through the entire entire body which is divided into:
 throat (pharynx)
 esophagus
 proventiculus (strong digestive juices)
 gizzard (strong muscular walls, act like teeth)
 small and large
 intestine
 cloaca

excretion
 birds are primarily uricotelic – kidneys extract nitrogenous waste from their bloodstream and excrete it as
uric acid
 do not have a urinary/urethral opening
 excrete the uric acid along with faeces
 the waste is expelled through cloaca – a multi-purpose opening

reproduction
 tubes, which act as passages for the sex cells produced within the organs
 fertilisation is internal
sex organs: male – testes (produce sperm) female – ovaries (produce eggs)