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BIRDS

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Birds are Diverse!

  • # Species in the world: 9,000-10,000
  • Live and breed on all 7 continents and in all kinds of habitats
  • # Species in North America: 993
  • Can be carnivores, herbivores or generalists
  • Some walk, run, swim or fly
  • Some at the top of the food chain, some at the bottom
  • # Species in Colorado: 507

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Birds fill many �Ecological Functions

  • Bioindicators of healthy ecosystems
  • Insectivorous birds and raptors regulate disease vectors (mosquitoes, rodents)
  • Scavengers are decomposers
  • Important to seed dispersal of fruit-bearing plants
  • Important pollinators

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N. American Birds in Decline

  • Why?
    • Urbanization
    • Growth of agriculture
    • # Continental land birds - 11.5 billion in 1970
    • 10 billion today
      • The Snowy Owl lost 64% of its population

in the last 60 years

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Some of the most endangered birds in North America

  • California Condor
  • Kirtland’s Warbler

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Some of the most common �birds in North America

  • American Robin

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  • House Sparrow

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Smallest

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Bee Hummingbird

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6 cm length

1.6 g

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Largest – Ostrich

Wingspan 12 ft, up to 350 lbs, 9 ft tall

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Wandering Albatross

11.5 ft wingspan

Flies 75,000 miles per year

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Adaptations

Anatomical

Physiological

Behavioral

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Beaks

Evening Grosbeak

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Mallard

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Long-billed Curlew

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Red Crossbill

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Golden

Eagle

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Great Horned

Owl

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Western Tanager

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Red-winged Blackbird

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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Gray

Jay

a.k.a.

Camp Robber

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Painted Bunting

Length – 5.5”

Williamson’s Sapsucker and

Red-naped Sapsucker

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American Dipper

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Greater Sage Grouse

Length 24”

White-breasted Nuthatch

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Nuthatches

White-breasted,

Red-breasted,

and Pygmy

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Brown-headed Cowbird

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet and

Brown-headed Cowbird

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Wild Turkey

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Wild Turkey

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Communal Roosting

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Pygmy

Nuthatch

and

Bluebirds

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Physiological�* Torpor *�Hummingbirds and Chickadees

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Western Bluebird

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About 129 species can be found at Mueller State Park!

Birds are Amazing!

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