evanave10's Blog

 Nesting

A bird may build a nest but it is not to live in it foerever, (but there are some exceptions) some birds use their nest year round for protection and warmth. It is eleagl to collect a birds nest so if you have one in your yard don't touch it.

Home Builders

Birds have to build their nest to put their eggs in. So in the spring birds will pick at weeds and grass to build their nest with. Then theuse their spit as glue to hold the nest together. It may also decorate the nest with shiny metal objects (the bird builds the nest on instinct).

 Flocks or Loners

Some birds will migrate in flocks (to save energy and for safety) .They tend to fly in the formation of a v. While bigger birds like hawks ad eagles do not have to fly in formation .

Left Alone

Soe birds will abandon their chicks. So the chicks have to fend for themselfes (find food, and fatten themselfes up) .Then they flock with other abandoned chicks and fly to where their parents are .

 Champion Migrator

The Arctic Tern flies 20,000 miles a year (from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic and back again. The tern will fly for four months one way and four months back again.

Perils on the Path

Migration is very dangerous for birds of prey. A storm could come , their could be hunters , or hawks eagles or owls could try and eat them.

How High Can You Go

Most birds only fly at an algitude of 3,000 to 6,000 feet but some birds have been seen a algitudes of over 25,000 feetwe can not go that high in the amosphere because the oxygen is thin at that elevation (we would die). This is possible because a bird uses up much more of the oxygen it breaths in. Where as we only use half of the oxygen we breath in.

Magnetic Fields

A bird will also use the earths magnetic field as a sense of direction. A bird has a magnetic substance in it's head called magnetite which helps guild the bird north , and to fly south they just fly in the opsite dirction.

Enough Eating

A bird needs energy to fly. right? Well how does it get that energy? It has to store up fat for migrtaion. The bird gets this fat from the food it eats. As the bird flies the fat is also turned into water. That way the bird does not have to stop for a drink.

Are We There Yet

Some birds migrate a long way. wile others may only have to fly into the valley below. wile some others may not have to migrate (because it lives in a tropical area).

 Knowing Where to Go

Birds can migrate stop at a feeder and then continue there journey to their destination south. Then when next year roles around they will stop at the same feeder around the same time. How is this possible? Birds have what is called a homing instinct which is how a bird never ends up in the wrong place.

Using Landmarks

Birds also use landmarks to help them know where to go. Landmarks are large objects that a bird will recognize from its last trip.

Sun and Stars

Birds can also use the sun and stars (or constellations) as directions.In the old days  sailors used sailors the constellations and a divice called a sextant as directions as well.

 FLYING FACTUALS

There are many reasons that a bird can fly and we can not (besides the fact that they have wings).There bones are another reason that they can fly .They are halow (but strong).

Mighty Muscles

The reason a birds chest is round is because of all the flight muscles (which make the breast meat of chickens and turkeys).The flight muscles are connected to the birds chest bone called the keel . The other end of the muscle is connected to a wing bone called the humerus . Birds have two main flight muscles a little one (for the upstroke) , and a big one (for the downstroke) . The big fight muscle is for the downsoke so that the bird can get the lift needed to get into the air.

 Takeoff

God designed each birds wings to their needs smaller birds need to be able to get into the air fast .Wile bigger birds need to be able to fly faster to catch their prey they also need a running start to get flowing over their wings.It also helps to takeoff against the wind (because it gets the wind flowing over the birds wings).

 Birds of a Feather

You may think bird's know there kind from when they were a hatchling recognizing there parents as what they are , but this is not necessarily true .The cowbird for example lays it's egg in another bird's nest and let's that bird raise it's young. It uses it's instinct to find other cow bird's. Female bird's are acting on instinct when they are looking for a mate.

Feather Facts

There are five different kinds of feathers contour feathers , down feathers , semiplumes , filoplumes , and bristles and they all have a purpose for being there (on the birds body). They provide warmth and the colder it is the more feathers the bird will have.

Molting

 Molting is when a bird loses it's feathers and grows back new ones .When this happens in the winter (where its cold) they will have more feathers than before to keep them warm . Also if the bird does not molt it's feathers well eventually get to worn out for flight .Many birds have their own molting sequince witch is a pattern in witch they molt .Birds also molt in a way called symmetrical molting witch s were a bird loses a feather on one wing but in the exact same spot on the opposite side a feather is there so the bird can still fly.

Habitats

The most important way to distinguish one bird from another is were they like to live .One bird may like a pine tree wile another may like a birdhouse  .

Bird Banter

Another way to identify one bird from another is there song or call . Which by a sound box called a syrinx .The more muscles a bird has attached the more sounds it can make .

Songs and Calls

 A song is a series of notes that make a tune , but a call is one single note that only makes a single sound . Birds use there songs and calls to attract a mate .

Claims to Territory

A bird also uses its call to claim territory .It does not mind sharing its feeder with the females of its species or birds of another species , but not the male of its kind .

The Purpose of Calls

Birds use there calls to alert others to danger , or when migrating and gathering .

Other Communications

Birds also use there beaks to make a loud drumming noise ,body motion ,and wing flapping for communication .

Bird Banding

Bird banding is used to help us learn about birds . It lets us yrack them on there migration . How far they fly ,what they do ,and what they eat .Jhon James Audubon invented bird banding when he tied a wire to a birds leg to see if the bird returned to the same place every year . When his hypotthesis was correct bird banding was invented .

Crests

The top of a birds head is called a crown , and sometimes a bird has a bit of feathers called a crest .Normally the crest stick up , but sometimes the bit of feathers go's down over the crown like this .

Whats in a Name

The (common) name given to a bird often refers to its color markings like the yellow rumped warbler.

 This is not always true ; some birds like the purple finch is actually strawberry colored  .

Passerines

Most birds in your yard are passerines , and are of the order passeriformes .All passerines are singing birds , and there chicks are borne without feathers,blind and dependent on there parents for food , and protection.Though all passerins are similar in many ways there are many different in size and eating habits .

From Large to Small

There seven  sizes off bird very small  sparrow sized  robin sized  pigon sized  crow sized  goose sized  very large most birds in the yard range from very small to crow sized .

Bird Behavior

One of the most important field marks is a birds behavior. Some birds will hop from tree to tree while others will fly, some birds will peck at a feeder then fly away ; wile others will stay at a feeder until they have eaten enough.

Field Marks

At first one bird can look like another bird, but if you look closely you will begin to notice things that are different .These are called field marks .They can be in any of these places (the parts of a bird).The back,wing,rump,tail,tarsus,flank,belly,breast,throat,chin,lower mandible,upper mandible,forehead,crown,nape .They will also have a different call/song/eye color.

Wings

The wings are an important field mark .They have a horizontal bars across there wings called wingbars

WHAT MAKES A BIRD A BIRD ?

What makes a bird different from any other animal? Is it the wings, no because flies have wings and there not birds. It s the feathers, only a bird has feathers. Birds are also warm-blooded .

Bird Watching

Many people like to watch birds:it helps bird watch watching societies like eBirds learn about birds and there habitats ,You can join those societies to help scientist learn about birds .Bird watching has its own vocabulary, for example bird watchers are often called Birders .

Benefits of Birds

Did you know with out birds we would die ? Large insect populations can ruin crops and cause famines (when there is little or no food). So birds control the insect population.

Identifying Birds/Field Guides/Do You Reside Here?

Field guides will help you identify birds that live in your area from that just migrate there.They are called migrant/transit birds(birds that migrate) . Some field guides use color and some use size . You should easily be able to locate the bird in your field guild . Cross out birds that are not in your area so that you know to ignore it, and do not get confused.

WHAT IS A VETERAN ?

A veteran is somebody who has put there life in harms way to save other peoples .We should be very grateful .They have fought in many wars like worldwarII ,and many countless lives have been lost .Some injuries can be seen, some can not but that tells you how much they sacrifice .

This is just a reminder about the Copenhagen treaty .

The national protest day is still November 30th .

This treaty,if it is passed can and will sign away our freedom !

If you can not make it to Washington to protest then go to your state capital .

Check out these links to inform you on the copenhagen treaty.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=27861

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHM5PLq9KXo&feature=player_profilepage

 http://libertyfighters.ning.com/

http://assets.panda.org/downloads/treaty_vol2_web_compl.pdf

At 6:30 p.m. on the evening of April 20, 1889, he was born in the small Austrian village of Braunau   in German Bavaria.

He would one day lead a movement that placed supreme importance on a person's family tree even making it a matter of life and death. His father, Alois, was born in 1837. He was the illegitimate son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber and her unknown mate, which may have been someone from the neighborhood or a poor millworker named Johann Georg Hiedler. It is also possible Adolf Hitler's grandfather was Jewish.

Habitats

A habitat  is a place were an animal lives and it is were they learn to survive using multiple tools, one of them being camouflage .Sometimes an animals habitat can be changed when a building is built.  

Instinct

God gave animals something called instinct they use it to survive,and to know what to do to thrive.For an example when whales make there long trip to the Arctic Circle.

Extinction

Animals can become extinct when they are hunted. Then they turn into fossils . Like the Dodo bird witch was hunted in abundance , and the eggs crushed by monkeys.

Extinction Errors

Sometimes an animal can be said to be extinct and be found later away from there natural habitat. Like the Miami blue butterfly which was said to be extinct, but was later found on one of the Hawaiian islands..

 Send to anyone you can ! This is about our freedom ! Must be read !

National Protest Day - November, 30, 2009. It could be signed away as early as December 2009!!!!  

 This treaty can sign away our freedom forever. So stand up aginast it. the protest day is above , and is at our state capital.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=27861

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHM5PLq9KXo&feature=player_profilepage

http://assets.panda.org/downloads/treaty_vol2_web_compl.pdf

http://libertyfighters.ning.com/

Explain what you learned about animals and habitats.       A habitat is a place where an animal lives,and animals are sorted into groups using the animal kingdom.An animals habitat can be destroyed when we tear down trees to build parking lots etc....

What is instinct?    Instinct is something that god gave animals so that they know what to do for survival. Can you think of any animal instincts? When birds fly south for the winter they are acting on instinct.

Explain what you learned about extinction.    Extinction is when an animal has been hunted and there are no more left of that kind like the dodo bird. It was hunted to extinction.

What is one reason the dinosaurs may have become extinct?   After the flood all the plants would have died and so would all the plant eating dinosaurs. Then the meat eaters would die as well.

Zoology is the study of animals, which includes insects, birds and all other creatures.

CLASSIFICATION

A zoologist is a scientist (or anyone else) that studies animals.  Zoologist have a tough time organizing all the animals in the animal kingdom. To help them however, they group them into groups giving them names using the Latin language. Each year, new animals are discovered and put into groups, especially in the insect world. This process is called taxonomy.  If an insect has all the features of a butterfly, it is put into the butterfly group which is called  Lepidoptera (lep uh dahp' tur uh). The latin word for that means "scaled wings". If it has tiny front legs, it is put into a group of butterflies that have tiny front legs. Then if it has orange coloration, it is placed with other butterflies having orange coloration, and so on. This goes on until they reach the most specific group in the animal kingdom called  species.  The reason scientists do all this grouping is so that it is easier to learn about them.  

First all the animals are put into a big group called the Animal Kingdom, also referred to as Kingdom Animalia. Then each group of animals is put into a smaller group called a phylum (fye' lum) . That group is given a latin scientific name Chordata (kor dah' tuh). Then all the animals with a backbone, or spine,  are placed into that group.  The animals with a backbone, are also called vertebrates (vur' tuh brayts), and animals without a backbone are invertebrates (in vur' tuh brates). Arthropoda (are thruh' pah duh) is a phylum of animals  that do not have a backbone. Another phylum is Annelida (an uh lee' duh), which have things like earthworms. A deeper classification is called classes.  An example of this class is Aves (aye' veez) which is for birds like hawks and eagles.  Mammalia (muh mail' ee uh)  is a class for animals that have fur and may feed their babies with mothers milk.  Classes are then divided even further into orders.  Insecta is a class for (animals) insects with six legs. There is another class,  Arachnida (uh rak' nih duh)  for creatures with eight legs. Scientists then divide each group into families. Falconiformes is one example of this order, and it includes such things as hawks, eagles, falcones and other birds of prey. They are then put into a group called the genus (jee' nus). Hawks and eagles are in the same family, but not enough alike to be in the same genus. Then, the animals are dividied into species. Two falcons may be of the same genus, but because they are not of the same type and can't mate and have another falcon, they have to be put into a different species. 

LATIN   

Scientists use Latin to name the animal kingdom, because nobody speaks latin anymore. Therefore, it never changes. Our English language, however, changes all the time. If somebody were to give the falcon a scientific name, it would be the same all over the world. But it is different in just a common language in German or England.

BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE

Binomial nomenclature is a two word scientific naming system. They use the species and the genus. The genus is capitalized, but the species is not. That is the way all scientists write binomial nomenclature. It is always written in italics.

TIP: To help remember the classification of the animal kingdom that scientists use... the following mnemonic (nih mahn'ik) phrase will help. "Kings Play Chess On Fine Glass Sets". This sentence was provided by my zoology book. My own example might be, "....". This helps because it uses the first letter of each word of the classification group from largest to smallest: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus & Species.

The Celts of Britain

once the roman empire fell all those who were under the roman rule were free. Including the Celts who fought the last of the Romans and took back Britain. The Celts were proud of there strength. Trained singers called bards told tales of there heroic warriors. They told Celt children it was good to be war like.

Barbarians Come to Britain

The Celts had many different tribes,and did not rule under one king but several kings. One king named Vortigern had warriors that were strong and lots of land,but wasn't happy. He had to keep fighting off other tribes,so he sent a message to the tribes called the Angles and the Saxons. He said come to Britain and help me in return I will give you land. So they helped him battle his enemies and stayed there. Then more and more Barbarians came. The Celts did not like the Barbarians,but there were to many of them.So they divided the land into seven parts.Because the Celts and the Barbarians never wrote any thing we don't know what happened during that time period. It is called the Dark Ages.

Wandering Through the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the largest empire in the world. The emperor, or leader, was carried on a seat called a litter, which was carried by slaves and surrounded by guards. The Roman Empire also had what was called a Coliseum . The coliseum was where gladiators fought to the death, chariot racers careen around a track, and soldiers fought lions for the amusement of the people. The Romans had what was called the Pax Roma to keep peace in the land. They also had paved roads and apartment buildings.

What is the Pax Romana?

The Fall of Rome

 Roman emperors were called the rulers of the world,but the world was too big to rule. The roman army could not cover every inch of the roman empire. An finally an emperor named Diocletian divided the empire into two parts. He appointed another emperor and two ceasars. Diocletian hoped that it would help to protect the Roman Empire, but he was wrong. Two hundred years after his death, barbarians invaded c. 410 AD, taking over part of Rome. They burned Rome and carried away its treasures. Soon even the roads and bridges began to crumble and turn to dust.

What is a ceasar?