Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Mandarin duck (male) in eclipse plumage. Many male ducks have bright, colourful plumage, exhibiting strong sexual dimorphism. However, they moult into a dull plumage after breeding in mid-summer. This drab, female-like appearance is called eclipse plumage. When they shed feathers to go into an eclipse, the ducks become flightless for a short ...
Territorial male in breeding plumage. The females, or "reeve", is 22–26 cm (8.7–10.2 in) long with a 46–49 cm (18–19 in) wingspan, [10] and weighs about 110 g (3.9 oz). [12] In breeding plumage, they have grey-brown upperparts with white-fringed, dark-centred feathers. The breast and flanks are variably blotched with black.
Exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism, the male in breeding plumage is a small, long-tailed bird of predominantly bright blue and black colouration. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour; this gave the early impression that males were polygamous as all dull-coloured birds were taken for females.
The superb fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae, and is common and familiar across south-eastern Australia. It is a sedentary and territorial species, also exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism; the male in breeding plumage has a striking bright blue forehead, ear coverts, mantle, and tail, with a black mask and black or dark blue ...
Plumage features [ edit ] External anatomy of a typical bird: 1 Beak, 2 Head, 3 Iris, 4 Pupil, 5 Mantle, 6 Lesser coverts, 7 Scapulars, 8 Coverts, 9 Tertials, 10 Rump , 11 Primaries , 12 Vent, 13 Thigh, 14 Tibio-tarsal articulation, 15 Tarsus, 16 Feet, 17 Tibia, 18 Belly, 19 Flanks, 20 Breast, 21 Throat, 22 Wattle, 23 Eyestripe Topography of a ...
Male (top) in nuptial plumage and female. Male has the wide white wing stripe and conspicuous face markings, which gave the colour teal its name. The Eurasian teal is one of the smallest extant dabbling ducks at 34–43 cm (13–17 in) length and with an average weight of 360 g (13 oz) in drake (males) and 340 g (12 oz) in hens (females). The ...
The sexes look alike, [13] [35] though the head and neck plumage of male birds fades more with age and wear, particularly just before moulting. [36] Western jackdaws undergo a complete moult from June to September in the western parts of their range, and a month later in the east. [28] The purplish sheen of the cap is most prominent just after ...
A system of nomenclature for the plumage of birds proposed in 1959 by Philip S. Humphrey and Kenneth C. Parkes [10] to make the terminology for describing bird plumages more uniform. [257] Examples of Humphrey–Parkes terminology versus traditional terminology may be seen in the entries for prealternate moult and prebasic moult .