Interesting BIRD 'BITS'
How many birds are there IN THE WORLD?
Knowing that there are roughly 11,000 bird species in the world, it would be fun to know just how many birds we have.
I had read years ago in an older edition of an ornithology textbook that there were about 200 billion feathered creatures on the planet. However, a scientific-based estimate done about 24 years ago put the number higher, somewhere between 200 and 400 billion birds. But that was based upon outdated data collection methods and analytical methods.
According to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this past spring, which was based on 9,700 species, the real number is closer to 50 billion birds.
That’s roughly six birds for every human on earth!
The research team working mostly out of the University of New South Wales in Australia used three pools of data to determine the overall count estimate, specifically data collected by Partners-in-Flight, a consortium of organizations studying bird migration world-wide, BirdLife International, the world’s top bird conservation organization, and a new source of data originating from Citizen Science, basically volunteer citizens collecting information on wild birds.
What was really interesting is that the researchers actually came up with the "Billion Club" which consists of only four members or species whose world-wide numbers exceed one billion.
They are the:
-
House sparrow at 1.6 billion
-
Eurasian starling at 1.3 billion
-
Ring-billed gull at 1.2 billion
-
Barn swallow at 1.1 billion
I must confess that I was a bit surprised (and encouraged!) by the bird listed last, if only because it is well documented that aerial insectivores are among the most endangered avian species in the world. So, is fifty billion birds in the world a good thing? Here is the more sobering number for the birds still existing today – as many as 1,180 species have fewer than 5,000 individuals left. We need to work harder to reverse that number before we lose those species altogether.
Amazing Longevity Seen IN COMMON LOON PAIR
It is indeed sad that more birds are not able to achieve the longevity seen in these two amazing common loons celebrating their Silver Anniversary in the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This year the male marked his 34th birthday! His partner named Fe (partly after the Spanish word for Faith) was banded as an adult and thus, is at least 35. We know this because both birds sport aluminum numbered leg bands. The male who is known as ABJ (it means Adult Banded Juvenile) was one of three chicks banded in 1987 in that same refuge and has returned there to breed every year since.
That is what loons do.
Together they have raised 29 young.
What makes this so newsworthy is that for common loons to live this long and breed so successfully, they must overcome many dangers - toxic mercury from natural and human-caused sources, lead poisoning from lost fishing gear, lake acidification, reduced fish populations, and disturbance during the breeding season from humans competing for use of the habitat. In the fall, they face even more threats including severe weather systems caused by climate warning during their 3,000-mile migration to winter off the coast of Florida and then their return back home. Both birds managed to survive a botulism outbreak in the Refuge in 2006 and 2012, which claimed the lives of a goodly number of loons in those years.
It will be interesting to see how many more birthdays this incredible pair of birds enjoy in the Refuge.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
Approximate diving depths OF SELECTED DIVING BIRDS
Mass (kg) Maximum Dive Depth (m)
Emperor penguin........................................................... 34 ............................................... 540
King penguin..................................................................13 ................................................ 300
Gentoo penguin.............................................................. 6 ...............................................150
Adelie penguin................................................................ 4 ...............................................170
Common murre.................................................................1 .............................................. 180
Thick-billed murre.............................................................1 ...............................................150
Razorbill..........................................................................0.75 ..............................................140
Sooty shearwater............................................................... 0.80 ............................................. 65
Short-tailed shearwater...................................................... 0.60 ............................................. 70
Peruvian diving petrel........................................................ 0.25 ..............................................80
Common diving petrel........................................................ 0.20 ..............................................60
Adapted from: E.A. Schreiber and J. Burger, Biology of Marine Birds (New York, NY: CRC Press, 2002)
EMPEROR PENGUIN
SOOTY SHEARWATER
GENTOO PENGUIN
Automobiles NAMED AFTER BIRDS
Bird
Crow
Crow-Elkhart Black
Duck
Eagle
Eaglet
Falcon
Firebird
Golden hawk
Gull wing
Hawkeye
Power hawk
Road Runner
Silver hawk
Silverbird
Sun Bird
Superbird
Tercel
Thunderbird
Wing
Canadian PROVINCIAL BIRDS
Alberta: Great Horned Owl
British Columbia: Steller’s Jay
Manitoba: Great Gray Owl
New Brunswick: Black-capped Chickadee
Newfoundland: Atlantic Puffin
Northwest Territory: Gyrfalcon
Nova Scotia: Osprey
Nunavut Territory: Rock Ptarmigan
Ontario: Common Loon
Prince Edward Island: Blue Jay
Quebec: Snowy Owl
Saskatchewan: Sharp-tailed Grouse
Yukon Territory: Raven
A Comprehensive list OF ASSEMBLAGES
Species assemblage is the term used to describe the collection of species making up any co-occurring community of organisms in a given habitat.
Affliction............................
Alacrity..............................
Annoyance........................
Apology.............................
Aristocracy........................
Bazaar...............................
Beaker...............................
Bevy..................................
Boil....................................
Bouquet............................
Brace................................
Brood................................
Bubbling...........................
Bugle.................................
Building.............................
Cast..................................
Chain................................
Charm...............................
Chatter..............................
Chattering.........................
Cheer................................
Clamour............................
Clan...................................
Cleavage...........................
Cluster...............................
Clutch................................
Colony...............................
Commotion or covert........
Company..........................
Congregation....................
Convocation......................
Coven................................
Cover................................
Covey................................
Creep................................
Crowd...............................
Deceit or desert................
Descent.............................
Dissimulation.....................
Duet..................................
Dule...................................
Elegance...........................
Exalting/exaltation.............
Fall....................................
Farce.................................
Feint..................................
Flamboyance, flurry..........
Flight.................................
Flute..................................
Flock.................................
Gaggle..............................
Galaxy...............................
Gang.................................
Gatling..............................
Glide.................................
Glister................................
Gulp..................................
Herd..................................
Horde................................
Host...................................
Jubilee..............................
Kettle.................................
Knob.................................
Leash................................
Loomery............................
starlings
pipits
house sparrows
sparrows
waxwings
guillemots, murres
pelicans
quail, swans
hawks
pheasants
pheasants, mallards, birds (on ground)
hens, chicks
wrens
cranes
rooks
falcons, hawks
bobolinks
finches, hummingbirds, magpies
chickadees
chickadees, starlings
vireos
rooks
crows
shearwaters
knots
chicks
gulls, penguins
coots
wigeon, parrots
cardinals, plovers
eagles
vultures
coots
grouse, quail, partridge
nuthatches
ibis
lapwings
woodpeckers
birds
turtle (doves)
doves
terns
larks
woodcock
jays
killdeer
flamingos
doves, swallows
thrushes
geese or ducks (in air)
geese
gulls
turkeys
woodpeckers
harriers
goldfinches
cormorants, magpies, swallows
curlews or geese
crows
sparrows
eagles
hawks
teal
merlins
guillemots
magpies
crows, magpies
starlings
peacocks
storks
thrushes
pheasants
pheasants
pheasants
peacocks
grouse
ducks
chats
owls
jays
doves
chickens
jaegers
turtle doves
waterfowl, woodcocks
pelicans
evening grosbeaks
ducks (on water)
turkeys
grosbeaks
ravens
virginia rails
kingbirds
martins
robins
seabirds
gannets
blackbirds, jays
thrashers
hawks
bitterns, cranes, herons
cranes, bitterns, herons
geese (in air)
soras
mallards
teal
snow buntings
flamingos
cowbirds
silky flycatchers
buntings
ducks
stilts
magpies
water thrushes
magpies
dotterel
ravens
birds (in air)
buzzards
snipe
kingfishers, nightingales
snow buntings
swans
swans
plovers
willets
seabirds
warblers
flycatchers
Motley...............................
Murder..............................
Murmuration......................
Muster...............................
Mustering..........................
Mutation............................
Nest...................................
Nide..................................
Nye....................................
Ostentation........................
Pack..................................
Paddling............................
Parlance............................
Parliament.........................
Party..................................
Peck..................................
Peep..................................
Piracy................................
Pitying...............................
Plump................................
Pod....................................
Quandary..........................
Raft....................................
Rafter................................
Rainbow............................
Rant, rabble......................
Reel...................................
Regency............................
Richness...........................
Rotundity...........................
Rookery.............................
Salt....................................
Scold.................................
Scratch..............................
Screw................................
Sedge...............................
Siege.................................
Skein.................................
Solitude.............................
Sord or suite......................
Spring...............................
Squall................................
Stand.................................
Stealth...............................
Strand...............................
Strut...................................
Team.................................
Teeter................................
Tiding(s), gulp, murder.....
Tinkle.................................
Tittering.............................
Trip....................................
Unkindness.......................
Volary................................
Wake.................................
Walk or wisp......................
Watch................................
Wave.................................
Wedge..............................
Whiteness.........................
Wing..................................
Wish..................................
Wreck................................
Yellowing...........................
Zipper...............................