Bird Facts & Tips

[Daniel E.]

Birds, Dinosaurs, and Reptiles | Ask A Biologist

Yes, birds are reptiles, but let me explain a bit. Biologists use two types of classification systems, the Linnaean and the phylogenetic. The Linnaean system was developed by Carolus Linnaeus in the 1730's. In the Linnaean system, organisms are grouped by characteristics regardless of their...

askabiologist.asu.edu

Archosaurs were the ancestors of dinosaurs and crocodiles, but they were only distantly related to modern snakes, lizards, and turtles, groups that had split off at different times. Then, 65 million years ago there was a massive extinction event, and all dinosaurs were killed except for a single group of feathered dinosaurs. These evolved over the next 65 million years into modern birds. So birds aren't just closely related to dinosaurs, they really are dinosaurs! And they are most closely related to crocodiles, which also came from archosaurs. This is what most people mean when they say that birds are reptiles, although technically, according to the phylogenetic system, birds, reptiles, and mammals all share a reptile-like ancestor.

| EarthSky

Were dinosaurs warm-blooded or cold-blooded? According to a new study that analyzed the chemistry of dinosaur eggshells, the answer is "warm."

earthsky.org

A new study that analyzed the chemistry of dinosaur eggshells suggests that dinosaurs were warm-blooded.

Scales, Feathers and Hair Have a Common Ancestor (Published 2016)

An ancient reptilian creature was found by researchers to be the source of the spikes, plumage and fur that cover reptiles, birds and mammals.

www.nytimes.com

Reptiles have scales. Birds have feathers. Mammals have hair. How did we get them?

For a long time scientists thought the spikes, plumage and fur characteristic of these groups originated independently of each other. But a study published [in 2016] suggests that they all evolved from a common ancestor some 320 million years ago.

 

[Daniel E.]

What To Feed Birds From The Kitchen? 13 Items | Birds Advice

What To Feed Birds From The Kitchen? In this article, we are now going to talk about what to feed birds from the kitchen...Birds Advice

www.birdsadvice.com

• Apples
• Bananas
• Squash Seeds, Melon, and Pumpkin
• Raisins
• Bread and Cereals
• Various Nuts
• Cooked Pasta and Rice
• Eggs and Eggshells
• Cheese
• Peanut Butter
• Peas, Potatoes and Sweet Corn
• Pet Food
• Meat

Similarly:

Complete List of Chicken Treats: What Can Chickens Eat?

Our definitive guide of treats chart contains over 200 treats, a tool, and much more to assess whether or not treats are good for your hen

www.thehappychickencoop.com

 

[Daniel E.]

‘Super Size Me 2’ reveals some unsavory truths about the chicken industry

Fifteen years after the original "Super Size Me" shocked the world, director Morgan Spurlock is back to take a closer look at chicken.

www.today.com

All it takes for a chicken to be labeled as "free range" means that it has access to a tiny space outside — not that it actually roams outdoors all day.

 

[Daniel E.]

Northern goshawk - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Probably the most habitual avian predator of domestic fowl, at least in the temperate-zone.

 

[Daniel E.]

Many birds, including parrots and chickens, like watermelon:

 

[Daniel E.]

Can Parrots And Chickens Live Together? - Parrot Website

We all love our pets and animals, especially those we have created a strong bond with. But a funny question to ask yourself is, does your animal provide

www.parrotwebsite.com

Parrots may pick up and copy some of the crowing of any roosters or cockerels!

 

[Daniel E.]

Lab Work: What can bird brains teach us about human cognition? Plenty.

The Comparative Cognition Laboratory conducts research to understand the basic building blocks of cognition.

www.apa.org

Pigeons could be trained to distinguish between healthy and cancerous tissues in X-rays. After around two weeks of training, the pigeons correctly identified signs of breast cancer 85 percent of the time, a level on par with that of human pathologists (PLOS ONE, 2015).

 

[Daniel E.]

Watch Out for Milo in Seed Mixes | Birding Wire

by Peter Stangel

Too often we look for economy before quality when we are shopping, but when it comes to bird seed mixes, milo seeds are used as an inexpensive filler to help keep seed mix prices lower. The real problem though, is that the majority of birds just don’t eat milo.

Milo, also known as red milo or sorghum, is a row crop that resembles corn superficially and is commonly used to feed livestock and to produce ethanol. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology explains that with the exception of a few birds such as Gambel’s Quail, Steller’s Jays and Curve-billed Thrashers, most birds avoid milo seeds.

Milo seeds may keep seed mix prices low, but in the long run these “inexpensive” bird seed mixes will cost you more because you are paying for something that most birds won’t eat. Because most birds don’t eat the small round milo seeds, the discarded seeds will accumulate in your feeder, and under it, and will probably get moldy, which is a potential health hazard for birds, and it may attract rodent pests.

Christopher Ingraham explored the issue of bird seed mix ingredients in a Washington Post article earlier this year. It’s an interesting and educational read that will help you improve your backyard feeding station.

You can read the story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...-stuff-birds-wont-eat/?utm_term=.126050f31e68

 

[Daniel E.]

Cheap hanging bird bath and feeder ($13 at Amazon):

 

[gooblax]

Most baby pigeons apparently make a squeaking noise. It turns out that my local ones are silent, so I had no idea they had even hatched let alone grown so much.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

One of my talents is making pigeon sounds. Coo...gggllll... you have to hear it in person I guess. D

Years ago, when my daughter was still a toddler, we visited New York City since I was presenting a research paper at a conference there. I took a break from the conference one nice summer afternoon because my daughter, Lizzy, was a big fan of Sesame Street and I thought we might see the little hill and bridge they ran over at the beginning of the TV shows.

We sat on a bench to rest our feet and pigeons started gathering. Suddenly, a young Afro-American girl, a bit older than my daughter but still a preschooler, came running around a little corner with her mother close behind calling out in that high-pitched little girl voice, "Pigeon chasing! Pigeon chasing! I LOOOOOOVVE pigeon chasing!".

The pigeons of course were briefly scattering in front of her but closing ranks just as quickly as she moved through them.

I visited NYC a few times after that but that is still one of my favorite memories out of any of those subsequent visits.

 

[Daniel E.]

For Male Cardinals, the Redder the Better

Feather brightness may indicate superior genes in species that sport crimson feathers.

www.audubon.org

To develop red feathers, they need to eat seeds or fruit containing pigment molecules called yellow carotenoids. Their bodies then change those pigments from yellow to red. Males with the brightest red feathering tend to have the best luck with the females.

 

[Daniel E.]

Hartz: Treats, Toys & Supplies For a Healthy and Happy Pet

Hartz provides a full range of pet care products of the highest quality that help pet owners love their pets the way their pets love them: Unconditionally.

www.hartz.com

Overgrown Beak: A very common problem, especially for the upper beak, overgrown beak can be a result of a few factors such as liver disease, nutritional problems, or simple abnormalities. To treat an overgrown beak you simply need to trim the excess beak. Your veterinarian should be able to do this, and it is a fairly simple and pain free procedure. You should also make sure to stock your bird’s cage with materials that can help wear down his beak. Wood toys, mineral blocks, and other features with rough textures can provide your bird with a natural way to keep his beak in shape.

 

[Daniel E.]

Grocery stores like Safeway often have bird seed on sale, like this week.

My favorite blend is anything featuring white millet and sunflower kernels, like a no-waste blend:

Signature Pet Care Wild Bird Food Premium No Waste Blend - 5 Lb - Safeway

Shop Signature Pet Care Wild Bird Food Premium No Waste Blend - 5 Lb from Safeway. Browse our wide selection of Bird Care for Delivery or Drive Up & Go to pick up at the store!

www.safeway.com

Bird seed like white millet is also a tasty treat for poultry. Guineafowl, in particular, love white millet.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

My oldest son buys seed and mixes it with bread and other grains to feed crows. Very intelligent birds and highly social. They take care of their own.

 

[Daniel E.]

As the crow dies: The strange world of bird funerals | BBC Science Focus Magazine

Corvids are not only incredibly intelligent birds, but they even show fascinating behaviour when one of the pack dies.

www.sciencefocus.com

...The way we’ve done those studies is to look at what’s called ‘emotion contagion’. Contagion is basically the idea that if your friend is sad and you’re like, “Hey, what’s up?” And they’re like, “I’m really sad.” And then you say, “Oh no, now I’m sad, too!” That is empathy, right? It’s taking on the emotions of another.

We’ve been able to show that ravens are capable of something that looks exactly like that. There was this cool little study where they have two chambers where you had a demonstrator raven and an observer raven. They couldn’t interact with one another, but they could see each other. The demonstrator raven is given a box and it can look inside that box. The observing raven can’t see what’s in there. It can only see how the demonstrator reacts to it.

In half the cases, the demonstrator was given something really cool, something delicious. They got very excited about it. And in the other half of the trials, they were given something boring. They look in the box and they’re like, “I don’t care about this.” And the observer watches that.

Then the researchers would give the observer raven a box, and they found that observers that had seen a demonstrator get really excited about what was in their box were like, “Oh, let me at this! I’m going to look in this box. I’m so excited!” And in the other group, they’re like, “I don’t want to go near that box. I don’t know what’s in there. I don’t care, get it away from me.”

And that is emotion contagion. That is looking at someone’s reaction and feeling the same way as them too. So I wouldn’t use my studies as a way to get at whether or not these birds possess empathy, but there are folks who are pursuing that, and there does seem to be evidence that they very well could.