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Bird Image Species Family Maximum height Details Rüppell's vulture: Gyps rueppellii: Accipitridae: 11,300 metres (37,100 feet). [1] [2] Vultures use their excellent eyesight to scan the landscape below from a relatively static aerial position. Instead of flying over a larger distance, they use elevation to expand their field of vision. [3]
Birds (flying, soaring) – Most of the approximately 10,000 living species can fly (flightless birds are the exception). Bird flight is one of the most studied forms of aerial locomotion in animals. See List of soaring birds for birds that can soar as well as fly. Townsends's big-eared bat, (Corynorhinus townsendii) displaying the "hand wing"
The vast majority of bird species are socially (but not necessarily sexually) monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years, and rarely for life. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous (one male with many females) or, rarely, polyandrous (one female with many males).
This flight arrangement might benefit the bird's control and maneuverability in the air. [12] The swiftlets or cave swiftlets have developed a form of echolocation for navigating through dark cave systems where they roost. [13] One species, the Three-toed swiftlet, has recently been found to use this navigation at night outside its cave roost too.
They have one clutch a year, which takes 30 to 32 days to hatch. The young birds leave the nest just 30 to 34 days after hatching. Only about 50 percent of broods succeed. As with many birds, mortality rates are high, as both eggs and chicks may fall victim to high winds, storms, or predators such as mustelids, opossums, raccoons and owls.
The most extreme known species of accipitrid in terms of sociality is the Harris's hawks (Parabuteo unicinctus), which up to seven fully-grown birds may hunt, nest and brood cooperatively, with the extra birds typically being prior years' offspring of the breeding pair.
In this list of birds by common name 11,278 extant and recently extinct (since 1500) bird species are recognised. [1] Species marked with a "†" are extinct. Contents
The American goshawk (Astur atricapillus) is a species of raptor in the family Accipitridae. It was first described by Alexander Wilson in 1812. The American goshawk was previously considered conspecific with the Eurasian goshawk but was assigned to a separate species in 2023 based on differences in morphology, vocalizations, and genetic divergence. [2]