ECOSYSTEMS

FIVE CATEGORIES

• Flightless birds
• Birds of Prey
• Game birds
• Songbirds
• Waterbirds

FLIGHTLESS BIRDS

• Cannot fly
• Smaller wing bones
• Reduced breast muscles
• 40 types of flightless birds
• Emu, ostrich, penguin

BIRDS OF PREY

• Predators of the sky
• Keen eyesight
• Sharp, curved beak
• Sharp talons
• Peregrine falcon, turkey vulture

GAME BIRDS

• Often used for sport hunting or meat
• Thick, meaty bird species
• Limits for hunters for population control
• Dove, quail, pheasant, goose

SONGBIRDS

• Over 4000 species
• Often named after plumage and sound
• Most common birds
• Eats bugs, seeds, berries, nectar
• Yellow Warbler, Common Raven

WATER BIRDS

• Birds that live in or around water
• Adapted to be able to stand or swim in water
• Webbed feet, ability to dive to catch prey
• Some can be more land-based than aquatic
• Duck, seagull, swan, stork, heron

Birds are uniquely designed with the ability to survive in the habitats they are given.

UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS

• Hollow bones
• Special air sacs in lungs
• Covered in multiple layers of feathers

MIGRATION

• Birds have built-in navigation
• Able to fly great distances with their young
• Keep track of when to migrate by measuring day lengths

BIRD FAMILIES

REPRODUCTION

• Courtship-male attracts a mate
• Egg is fertilized in female's cloaca
• Chicks are hatched
• Altricial or Precocial
• Reproductive cycle of about 1 yr

Some birds have different mates for every mating season.
Some birds, like the Bald Eagle, mate for life.

ENVIRONMENT

ENVIRONMENT

• A bird's environment shows on the bird
• Parts of the bird adapt to environmental needs
• Example: ducks have webbed feet to swim
• Ex: some owls have big eyes since they can't move their neck

BIRDS NATIVE TO COLORADO

• Lark Bunting
• American Kestrel
• Northern Flicker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Over 400 more