Birds have scaly legs, and no teeth (except in a few early fossil forms). They maintain a constant body temperature of about 41 degrees C (106 degrees F). Birds incubate their eggs until they hatch. Then the parents continue to care for their young, bringing food to the nest site as needed. The chicks of some bird species, like chickens, are already covered with down and can start finding their own food. Birds also have wings, evolutionary adaptations of ancient forelimbs. Most use their wings for flight, but others, like ostriches and penguins, are grounded.
Birds are a monophyletic lineage, evolved once from a common ancestor, and all birds are related through that common origin. There are a few kinds of birds that don't fly, but their ancestors did, and these birds have secondarily lost the ability to fly. Birds as seed dispersers, play an essential for the propagation of many species of trees and plants. Other examples include Homing pigeons to carry messages, Falcons for hunting and Cormorants for fishing. Birds marked (v) are vagrants which do not regularly visit Britain.
Birds are remarkable for a wide range of exceptional physical abilities, for their indications of intelligence, and - for some species - their surprising level of rapport with humans. Birds that have all but disappeared in other areas still find tenuous safety in protected lands in Costa Rica, though many species face extinction due to deforestation. The nation offers hope for such rare jewels of the bird world as the quetzal and the scarlet macaw, both endangered species yet commonly seen in protected reserves. Birds attracted to feed from the flowers, such as the Eastern Spinebill, then carry pollen from flower to flower. Eastern Spinebills occur naturally in rainforest, woodland and heath areas of the eastern coast of Australia.
Birds are incredibly diverse in size, color, and lifestyles. They range in size from the 2.5 inch, 0.08 ounce Bee Hummingbird to the Wandering Albatross with an 11 foot wingspan. Birds are easy to love. The existence of societies like the National Audubon Society of America with 550 000 members and the RSPB , originally of the UK, with over 1,000,000 members are a testament to how popular birds are.
Author: Glen Peebles
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Times
