The birds have a complex nervous system and a well-developed brain.The birds have a heart with 4 chambers – this way, the oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood is divided correctly, which helps with maintaining constant temperatures.The body is covered with unique structures – feathers.The birds have a beak instead of a mouth with teeth.The birds’ bones are hollow inside to lower the overall weight of the body.The body of the most bird is spindle-shaped (to make the flight more comfortable and more effective).The upper limbs of birds have evolved into specialized structures – wings, that allow flight.Birds are bipedal (i.e., they move on two limbs when they are on the ground).Birds are endothermic – they maintain constant body temperature by themselves, without depending on outside factors.Birds are vertebrates – they have an inner skeleton that contains a spine, limbs, and a skull. The birds share some characteristics with another closely related class – Reptiles, but they also have some features that are unique to these fantastic creatures. Many parrots are susceptible to a viral disease, often spread at feeding stations, known as Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD), which causes the birds to lose their feathers and grow grotesquely shaped beaks.The Class Aves or Birds is just one of the classes of the bigger Kingdom Animalia. Birds can also become too dependent on artificial foods and even develop diseases or conditions caused by poor nutrition. For example, over-abundant Sulphur-crested Cockatoos demanding a feed can damage the timberwork of houses with their beaks. However, bird-feeding has resulted in some birds becoming pests. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Rainbow Lorikeet). This ready availability of artificial foods has increased the numbers of some species in urban areas (e.g. Parrots are easily attracted to bird feeding stations because they eat seed and/or nectar. Unfortunately, some introduced species such as Honeybees, Common (Indian) Mynas and Common Starlings frequently out-compete parrots at both natural and artificial hollows. Crimson Rosella) have even taken to artificial nest boxes. However, other parrot species can nest in isolated old trees that remain in suburban areas and these species are surviving well in cities. Glossy-black Cockatoo) are in decline, because these old-growth forests are being lost to agricultural and forestry activities. Good hollow-bearing trees are usually more than 100 years old, and are normally only found in 'old-growth' forests. Nest hollows and nest boxesĪlmost all parrots need old trees that have developed hollows that they can nest in. Many parrot species are highly dexterous with their feet, and will hold hard seed capsules in one foot while they extract the seeds with their bills. Parrots have two toes pointing forwards, and two toes pointing backwards songbirds have three toes forward and one toe at the back. Parrots have very different feet to songbirds (Order Passeriformes). These species have short, powerful bills that they use for cracking seeds, but some of them also feed on fruit, nectar, underground plant stems, and wood-boring insect larvae. Most of these birds belong to the Order Psittaciformes (commonly known as 'parrots'), which contains the cockatoos, parrots, rosellas and lorikeets. Suburban areas of Australia have a striking abundance of large, brightly-coloured birds.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |