Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
For birds that do not completely molt into full adult plumage the first time, a numbering system is used to signify which plumage it is in. For example, for the first time a bird enters basic plumage, the plumage is known as first basic plumage; the second, second basic plumage. The numbers are dropped after a bird achieves its full adult plumage.
Plumage (from Latin pluma 'feather') is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can be different colour morphs.
Birds, who have feathers and the ability to fly (except for the approximately 60 extant species of flightless birds), are toothless, have beaked jaws, lay hard-shelled eggs, and have a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton.
A field mark is a characteristic (e.g. in plumage) useful for species identification, usually birds. They are often used in field guides or identification keys. In a broader context, a field mark might be referred to as a character (e.g. "differential character" or "diagnostic character"). For birds this may include plumage, flight ...
National Geographic, with Alderfer, Paul Hess, and Noah Strycker, also published National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Birds of North America in 2011. A second edition was released in 2019. Like the pocket guide, this guide is 256 pages and outlines the 150 most common yard birds in North America.
The Peterson Field Guides (PFG) are a popular and influential series of American field guides intended to assist the layman in identification of birds, plants, insects and other natural phenomena. The series was created and edited by renowned ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson (1908–1996).
Position of the uropygial gland, indicated on a budgerigar Uropygial gland of a blue jay. The uropygial gland, informally known as the preen gland or the oil gland, is a bilobed sebaceous gland possessed by the majority of birds used to distribute the gland's oil through the plumage by means of preening.
The Macmillan Field Guides to Bird Identification are two small bird field guides. Volume 1, The Macmillan Field Guide to Bird Identification , illustrated by Alan Harris and Laurel Tucker , with text by Keith Vinicombe , was originally published in 1989, covered British birds.