Words About Birds
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A-D
Agnostic
Used to describe behaviors which are in opposition or conflict, especially between individuals.
Allofeeding
Behavioral event where one adult bird feeds another adult of the same species.
Allopreening
Behavioral event where one bird grooms another bird of the same species. Also known as allogrooming.
Altricial
A developmental classification of birds at hatching where young are relatively immobile, lack feathers or down, have closed eyes and are completely dependent on their parents for survival. Altricial birds include herons, hawks, woodpeckers, owls, and most passerine songbirds.
Anthropomorphism
Assigning human attributes or behaviors to non-human animals.
Aquatic
Living or growing in water.
Asynchronous hatching
Hatching that does not occur at the same time but that may take place over two to three calendar days.
Behavior
What an animal does, how it cares for itself and how it reacts to other organisms and the environment in which it lives.
Bill-sweeping
Display in which a pair of birds sweep their bills back and forth over the bark near their nest hole. Often the birds have crushed insects in their bills. Typical behavior of species such as White-breasted Nuthatch.
Birdhouse
A man-made cavity, platform or structure provided as housing for nesting birds.
Bottomland
Low-lying land along a stream, river, or brook.
Breeding cycle
The time period beginning at nest building through egg laying and raising young to the point of independence.
Breeding season
The period of time during each year when a species reproduces (mates and has young).
Brood (n)
The young of a bird that are hatched or cared for at one time.
Brood (v)
To sit on and keep warm (chicks).
Brooding
To sit on and keep young birds warm that cannot maintain their own body temperatures.
Brood parasitism
The act of laying eggs in the nests of other birds. The eggs are left under the parental care of the host parents which can be of the same or different species. Brown-headed Cowbirds are common brood parasites.
Brood patch
An area that develops on the lower abdomen of birds in which the feathers drop off and the skin thickens and becomes densely populated with blood vessels. Used in incubation to keep eggs and young warm. Also known as incubation patch.
Brood reduction
A reproductive strategy where the female lays more eggs than can be cared for and raised. The smallest and weakest of the brood typically starve or are killed by siblings.
Caching
The storage of berries, seeds, and other food items in the crevices of bark, under leaves, in cavities, and the like. Retrieval of cached food items is not accidental, as in scatterhoarding.
Carnivorous
Subsisting or feeding on animal tissues.
Cavity
A hole or opening in a tree trunk or limb.
Cloaca
Posterior-most chamber of the digestive tract in birds and the point of contact during copulation.
Clutch
Total number of eggs laid by a female bird in one nest attempt.
Competitor species
Any species, either avian or non-avian, that uses or attempts to use a nest site intended for a native nesting bird.
Coniferous
Consisting of evergreen trees such as pines, firs, and the like.
Conspecific
Of the same species.
Contact call
A sound produced by a bird that appears to tell a nearby bird of the caller's location. For example, a mated male and female may make contact calls as they forage relatively close to one another.
Contour feather
Predominate feather type found on the body, wings, and tail of the bird (as opposed to other feather types: down, bristles, semiplumes, etc.).
Cooperative breeding
Breeding system where non-parental adult birds assist other breeding pairs (usually their own parents) to rear offspring, instead of dispersing from the nest or breeding themselves.
Crepuscular
Active at twilight, dawn, and dusk.
Deciduous
Vegetation type where leaves fall off or shed either seasonally or at a certain stage of development in the life cycle.
Dimorphism
Existing in two forms, two color forms, two sexes, and the like.
Dispersal
The movement of a young bird from the site where it hatches to the site where it breeds (juvenile dispersal); the year-to-year movement of an adult bird from one nest site to another (breeding dispersal).
Diurnal
Of, relating to, occurring, or active in the day.
Dummy nest
One of several nests built to attract females, serve as shelter for juveniles, act as decoys for predators or be used as a back-up nest if the first nest is disturbed or destroyed.
E-I
Ectoparasite
A parasite that lives on the exterior of its host.
Egg dumping
Occurs when a female lays her egg(s) in the nest of another bird, sometimes creating very large clutches, as is often the case for Wood Ducks.
Ethology
The study of the behavior of animals in their natural environment.
Fecal sac
A clean, tough mucous membrane containing the excrement of nestling birds.
Feeding
The act of providing food and nourishment to oneself or offspring.
Fledge (Fledging)
The act of leaving the nest or nest cavity after reaching a certain stage of maturity.
Fledgling
A young bird that left its nest but is not yet able to survive on its own.
Foraging
The act of searching for food.
Generalist
In ornithology, a bird that uses many types of a resource. For example, it eats many different types of foods.
Granivorous
Feeding on seeds or grain.
Habitat
The place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows.
Hatch
To emerge from an egg, pupa, or chrysalis.
Hatching
The moment an organism emerges from an egg, pupa, or chrysalis.
Hatchling
A newly hatched bird or animal.
Hibernation
Winter dormancy in animals characterized by a great decrease in metabolism.
Host
A bird whose nest receives eggs from a brood parasite such as the Brown-headed Cowbird. The host typically cares for the egg and unrelated young, even at the expense of its own offspring.
Incubation
The process by which birds keep eggs at the proper temperature to ensure normal embryonic development until hatching. In most cases, birds sit on eggs and transfer their body heat through a patch of skin known as the brood patch. In many species, only the female incubates; in other species, both males and females incubate. Less common, only the male incubates.
Incubation Period
The period of time during which adults (usually the breeder female) remain on the nest, using their bodies to keep the eggs warm and protected.
Insectivorous
Feeding on insects.
Invertebrate
Members of the animal kingdom lacking a spinal column.
Irrupt
To undergo a sudden upsurge in numbers, especially when natural ecological balances and checks are disturbed.
J-N
Juvenile
A young bird, typically one that is recently fledged and has not attained its full adult plumage.
Larvae
The immature, wingless, and often worm-like stage of a metamorphic insect that hatches from the egg, alters chiefly in size while passing through several molts, and is finally transformed into a pupa or chrysalis from which the adult emerges.
Latitude
South to north measurement of location.
Longitude
East to west measurement of location.
Mammal
Warm-blooded, higher vertebrates that nourish their young with milk secreted by mammary glands and have the skin usually more or less covered with hair; includes humans.
Migration
Regular, extensive, seasonal movements of birds between their breeding regions and their wintering regions.
Monogamy
A common type of mating system found in birds. Socially monogamous birds have one mate that helps raise young, but they may actually have mated with more than one individual. Sexual monogamy implies mating of an animal with only one member of the opposite sex during the breeding season.
Monomorphic
Having a single form.
Natural cavity
A cavity created by natural means such as excavation by woodpeckers or formed by rot or insects and that can be used as a nest site by cavity-nesting birds.
Nest box
A box, typically made of wood, in which cavity-nesting birds can nest; also called a birdhouse.
Nestling
A young bird after hatching and before leaving the nest.
Nocturnal
Relating to, occurring, or active at night.
O-R
Open-nesting
The tendency to nest in areas with little or no permanent enclosure, such as on trees, shrubs, herbaceous cover, bare ground, or on a platform.
Pair bond
The association between two birds who have come together for reproduction; depending on the species, it can be short-term (lasting only through egg-laying or the rearing of young) or lifelong.
Parasite
An organism that lives in or on an organism of another species (host) and derives its nutriment there from; usually a parasite causes some degree of damage to the host.
Parasite load
The amount or quantity of parasites possessed by an individual that may affect the individual’s capacity for survival.
Pellet
A mass of undigested materials such as fur, bones, and feathers regurgitated by predatory birds such as owls and hawks.
Penultimate
Next to the last, as in the penultimate egg.
Philopatry
Faithfulness to a region or an area.
Pip (v)
To break through the shell of the egg until hatched.
Polyandry
A less common form of polygamy where one female mates with several males.
Polygamy
A general type of mating system found in birds where social bonds exist between more than one member of the opposite sex.
Polygyny
A common form of polygamy where one male mates with several females.
Precocial
Young are capable of a high degree of independent activity immediately after hatching. Precocial young typically can move about, have their eyes open and will be covered in down at hatching. They are generally able to walk away from the nest as soon as they have dried off.
Predation
The act of preying or feeding on another living organism.
Preening
A type of avian grooming behavior where feathers are pulled or nibbled on in order to remove ectoparasites, and keep feathers healthy and waterproof. Many birds use oil from an oil gland above their tails, to spread on the feathers while they preen.
Premature fledging
Nestlings leave the nest before reaching the stage of maturity at which they normally fledge. Premature fledging may be caused by heat, parasites or disturbance by a predator or nest monitor.
Pupa
An intermediate stage of a metamorphic insect (such as a bee, moth, or beetle), usually enclosed in a cocoon or protective covering.
Replacement clutch
The eggs laid to replace a clutch in which none of the eggs hatched.
Residents
Individuals that live year round in a particular area.
Riparian
Along banks of rivers and streams.
Roost (n)
A support on which birds rest; a place where birds customarily rest; also a group of birds resting together.
Roost (v)
To settle down for rest of sleep: perch.
S-Z
Scatterhoarding
Behavior in which birds hide food items in bark crevices and under leaves, moss, or lichen. Retrieval of food items is accidental, not memory-based.
Siblicide
The death of a young bird usually as a result of fighting with siblings over food, common in years when food is in short supply.
Snag
A standing dead tree, and often a vital source of nesting sites for cavity-nesting birds.
Species
Related organisms or populations having common attributes and potentially capable of interbreeding.
Synchronous hatching
Hatching that occurs at the same time or nearly the same time, usually within one calendar day.
Synchronous nesting
Nesting by a local population in which breeding pairs initiate egg laying within a relatively short period of time (a few days to a few weeks).
Taxonomy
Scientific naming of organisms and their classification with reference to their precise position in the animal or plant kingdom.
Terrestrial
Living or growing on land.
Thermoregulate(ion)
The act of maintaining a constant body temperature.
Topographic map
A map depicting the natural and human-made features of a place or region, especially in a way to show their relative positions and elevations.