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Brood Parasites
Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The evolutionary strategy relieves the parasitic parents from the investment of rearing young. This benefit comes at the cost of provoking an evolutionary arms race between parasite and host as they coevolve: many hosts have developed strong defenses against brood parasitism, such as recognizing and ejecting parasitic eggs, or abandoning parasitized nests and starting over. It is less obvious why most hosts do care for parasite nestlings, given that for example cuckoo chicks differ markedly from host chicks in size and appearance. One explanation, the mafia hypothesis, proposes that parasitic adults retaliate by destroying host nests where rejection has occurred; there is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
(Molothrus Bonariensis) E ( Zonotrichia Capensis )
Cowbirds are birds belonging to the genus ''Molothrus'' in the family Icteridae. They are of New World origin, and are obligate brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species. The genus was introduced by English naturalist William John Swainson in 1832 with the brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') as the type species. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek , meaning "struggle" or "battle", with , meaning "to sire" or "to impregnate". Species The genus contains six species: One extinct species, the Talara cowbird (''Molothrus resinosus''), is known from fossil remains recovered from the Talara Tar Seeps of northwestern Peru, and likely went extinct during the late Quaternary. It may have been a close associate of Pleistocene megafauna communities, and may have gone extinct following their collapse in populations. The nonparasitic baywings were formerly placed in this genus; they are now classified as ''Agelaioides''. Behavior Cowbirds are insec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Offspring
In biology, offspring are the young creation of living organisms, produced either by a single organism or, in the case of sexual reproduction, two organisms. Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way. This can refer to a set of simultaneous offspring, such as the chicks hatched from one clutch of eggs, or to all the offspring, as with the honeybee. Human offspring ( descendants) are referred to as children (without reference to age, thus one can refer to a parent's " minor children" or " adult children" or " infant children" or " teenage children" depending on their age); male children are sons and female children are daughters (see kinship). Offspring can occur after mating or after artificial insemination. Offspring contains many parts and properties that are precise and accurate in what they consist of, and what they define. As the offspring of a new species, also known as a child or f1 generation, consist of genes of the father and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coot
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water. They are close relatives of the moorhen. However, the Coot typically appears 'dumpier' and lacks the distinctive red frontal face of the moorhen. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Fulica'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The genus name is the Latin word for a Eurasian coot. The name was used by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in 1555. The type species is the Eurasian coot. A group of coots are referred to as a ''covert'' or ''cover''. Species The genus contains 10 extant species and one which is now extinct. Extinct species Recently extinct species * ''Fulica newtonii'' Milne-Edwards, 1867 – Mascar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial support of Charles Scribner, as a printing press to serve the Princeton community in 1905. Its distinctive building was constructed in 1911 on William Street in Princeton. Its first book was a new 1912 edition of John Witherspoon's ''Lectures on Moral Philosophy.'' History Princeton University Press was founded in 1905 by a recent Princeton graduate, Whitney Darrow, with financial support from another Princetonian, Charles Scribner II. Darrow and Scribner purchased the equipment and assumed the operations of two already existing local publishers, that of the ''Princeton Alumni Weekly'' and the Princeton Press. The new press printed both local newspapers, university documents, ''The Daily Princetonian'', and later added book publishing to it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avian Incubation
Egg incubation is the process by which an egg, of oviparous (egg-laying) animals, develops an embryo within the egg, after the egg's formation and ovipositional release. Egg incubation is done under favorable environmental conditions, possibly by brooding and hatching the egg. Multiple and various factors are vital to the incubation of various species of animal. In many species of reptile for example, no fixed temperature is necessary, but the actual temperature determines the sex ratio of the offspring. In birds in contrast, the sex of offspring is genetically determined, but in many species a constant and particular temperature is necessary for successful incubation. Especially in poultry, the act of sitting on eggs to incubate them is called brooding. The action or behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs is also called broodiness, and most egg-laying breeds of poultry have had this behavior selectively bred out of them to increase production. Avian incubation A wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-winged Blackbird
The red-winged blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus'') is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala, with isolated populations in western El Salvador, northwestern Honduras, and northwestern Costa Rica. It may winter as far north as Pennsylvania and British Columbia, but northern populations are generally migratory, moving south to Mexico and the southern United States. Claims have been made that it is the most abundant living land bird in North America, as bird-counting censuses of wintering red-winged blackbirds sometimes show that loose flocks can number in excess of a million birds per flock and the full number of breeding pairs across North and Central America may exceed 250 million in peak years. It also ranks among the best-studied wild bird species in the world. The red-winged blackbird is sexually dimorphic; the male i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown-headed Cowbird
The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico in winter, returning to their summer habitat around March or April. Taxonomy The brown-headed cowbird was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1775 in his '' Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' from a specimen collected in the Carolinas. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'', which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name, but in 1783, Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name ''Oriolus ater'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enlumin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chalk-browed Mockingbird
The chalk-browed mockingbird (''Mimus saturninus'') is a bird in the family mimidae. It is found in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname, and Uruguay. Taxonomy and systematics The chalk-browed mockingbird has four subspecies, the nominate ''Mimus saturninus saturninus'', ''M. s. arenaceus'', ''M. s. frater'', and ''M. s. modulator''. Description The chalk-browed mockingbird is long and weighs . Males are slightly larger than females. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark brown crown, a broad white supercilium, a blackish line through the eye, and white cheeks. Their upperparts are brownish with some darker streaks; the rump is buffier. Their wings are blackish and show two obscure bars when folded. The tail is also blackish; most feathers have white tips and the outermost have white edges. The underside of their body is white from the throat to the vent, though the breast has a gray tinge and the flanks are buffy with faint dark streaks. The juvenile is br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Wren
The house wren (''Troglodytes aedon'') is a very small bird of the wren family, Troglodytidae. It occurs from Canada to southernmost South America, and is thus the most widely distributed native bird in the Americas. It occurs in most suburban areas in its range and it is the single most common wren. Its taxonomy is highly complex and some subspecies groups are often considered separate species. The name ''troglodytes'' means "hole dweller", and is a reference to bird's tendency to disappear into crevices when hunting insects or to seek shelter. Taxonomy The house wren was formally described in 1809 by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot under the current binomial name ''Troglodytes aedon''. The specific epithet is from the Ancient Greek ''aēdōn'' meaning "nightingale". The type locality was designated as New York City by Harry Oberholser in 1934. There are 32 recognised subspecies. These are sometimes divided into three distinct groups and one or several dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shiny Cowbird
The shiny cowbird (''Molothrus bonariensis'') is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in most of South America except for dense forests and areas of high altitude such as mountains. Since 1900 the shiny cowbird's range has shifted northward, and it was recorded in the Caribbean islands as well as the United States, where it is found breeding in southern Florida. It is a bird associated with open habitats, including disturbed land from agriculture and deforestation. Adults are sexually dimorphic. Males are all black with a purple-blue iridescence. The female is smaller, with dull brown plumage that is sometimes paler on the underparts. Females of the species can be distinguished from the female brown-headed cowbird by their longer, finer bills and flatter heads. The shiny cowbird's diet consists mainly of insects, other arthropods and seeds, and they have been recorded foraging for grains in cattle troughs. Like most other cowbirds, it is an obligate brood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marsh Warbler
The marsh warbler (''Acrocephalus palustris'') is an Old World warbler currently classified in the family Acrocephalidae. It breeds in temperate Europe and the western Palearctic and winters mainly in southeast Africa. It is notable for incorporating striking imitations of a wide variety of other birds into its song. The marsh warbler breeds in a variety of mostly damp habitats, but in Africa winters mainly in dry, well-vegetated areas. It is common over much of its breeding range and expanding its distribution in some areas. However, in Britain it is now virtually extinct as a breeding bird, though the reasons for its decline are unclear. This insectivorous warbler can be easily confused with several close relatives, but the imitative song of the male is highly distinctive. Taxonomy The marsh warbler was formally described in 1798 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein under the scientific name ''Motacilla s. Sylvia palustris''. The type locality is Germany. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Reed Warbler
The great reed warbler (''Acrocephalus arundinaceus'') is a Eurasian passerine in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. The genus name ''Acrocephalus'' is from Ancient Greek ''akros'', "highest", and ''kephale'', "head". It is possible that Naumann and Naumann thought ''akros'' meant "sharp-pointed". The specific ''arundinaceus'' is from Latin and means "like a reed", from ''arundo, arundinis'', "reed". It used to be placed in the Old World warbler assemblage, but is now recognized as part of the marsh and tree-warbler family (Acrocephalidae). Great reed warblers are medium-sized birds and are the largest of the European warblers. They breed throughout mainland Europe and the west Palearctic and migrate to sub-Saharan Africa in the winter. Great reed warblers favour reed beds as their habitat during breeding months, while living in reed beds, bush thickets, rice fields, and forest clearings during the winter. Great reed warblers exhibit relatively low sexual dimorphism, and both genders ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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