General Vocabulary:
Diurnal: active during the day
Nocturnal: active at night
Crepuscular: active at twilight
Obligate: having an evolutionary obligation, eg: obligate nest thieves are incapable of building nests
Bivalve: aquatic mollusk with compressed body enclosed within two hinged shells, including oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops
Herbivorous: feeds only on plants
Prehensile: capable of grasping
Preening: (of a bird) to straighten or clean feathers with their beak
Cache: A collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place
Melanistic: The occurrence of an increased amount of dark pigmentation in an organism
Iridescent: Showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles
Plaintive: Sounding sad and mournful
Pied: Having two or more different colors
Suet: A cake of hard fat mixed with seeds, grains, nuts, and fruit that is used as food for backyard and wild birds.
Types of Birds:
Passerine/Passeriformes: largest order of birds comprising about half the known species; rooks; finches; sparrows; tits; warblers; robins; wrens; swallows; etc
Anseriforme: waterfowl
Charadriiformes: gulls, button-quails, plovers and allies
Pelecaniformes: pelicans and allies
Falconiformes: falcons, eagles, hawks and allies
Gruiformes: cranes and allies
Columbiformes: doves and pigeons
Psittaciformes: parrots and allies
Strigiformes: owls
Apodiformes: swifts and hummingbirds
Coraciiformes: kingfishers and allies
Piciformes: woodpeckers and allies
Emberzine: buntings and New World sparrows.
Corvid: crows, jays, magpies, and ravens.
Parts of Birds (also see our Bird Model)
Gape - Base of the bill where the mandibles join
Culmen - Upper ridge of the bill
Crown - Top of head
Crest - Tuft of feathers on head
Mask - Coloring on face around eyes.
Primaries - Outer wing feathers, "finger" feathers.
Secondaries - Wing feathers attached to the "elbow"
Tertiaries - Feathers adjoining the secondaries, "upper arm" feathers
Wingbars - Arc-like markings along the wings
Scapulars - Feathers between the back and the wings, "shoulder" feathers
Rump - Rear-end, above the tail
