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Brubru
The brubru (''Nilaus afer'') is a species of bushshrike (family Malaconotidae) found in most of Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only member of the genus ''Nilaus''. Distribution and habitat Its habitat is dry open woodland, but varies geographically. The six northern races and the subspecies ''N. a. Brubru'' of southern Africa are found in acacia and broadleaved woodland, whereas the three subspecies in a belt from northeastern Angola and northern Namibia east to Tanzania and northern Mozambique occur in ''Brachystegia'' miombo woodland. Description The brubru is a small passerine, 12–15 cm long. The adult male of the nominate subspecies, ''N. a. afer'', has a black crown, white supercilium and forehead, and black eyestripe. The back is black with a tawny strip, the rump is mottled black, and the tail is black with white tips and edges to the outer feathers. The wings are black with a buff shoulder stripe. The underparts are white with rufous flanks. The female is duller ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nilaus Afer2
The brubru (''Nilaus afer'') is a species of bushshrike (family Malaconotidae) found in most of Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only member of the genus ''Nilaus''. Distribution and habitat Its habitat is dry open woodland, but varies geographically. The six northern races and the subspecies ''N. a. Brubru'' of southern Africa are found in acacia and broadleaved woodland, whereas the three subspecies in a belt from northeastern Angola and northern Namibia east to Tanzania and northern Mozambique occur in ''Brachystegia'' miombo woodland. Description The brubru is a small passerine, 12–15 cm long. The adult male of the nominate subspecies, ''N. a. afer'', has a black crown, white supercilium and forehead, and black eyestripe. The back is black with a tawny strip, the rump is mottled black, and the tail is black with white tips and edges to the outer feathers. The wings are black with a buff shoulder stripe. The underparts are white with rufous flanks. The female is duller ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bushshrike
The bushshrikes are smallish passerine birds. They were formerly classed with the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, but are now considered sufficiently distinctive to be separated from that group as the family Malaconotidae, a name that alludes to their fluffy back and rump feathers. Like their shrike-like relatives, the helmetshrikes, the bushshrikes have arisen in Africa in relatively recent times. The family is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa but completely absent from Madagascar, where the vangas are their closest relatives. They are found in scrub or open woodland, and less often in marshes, Afromontane or tropical forest. They are similar in habits to shrikes, hunting insects and other small prey from a perch on a bush. Although similar in build to the shrikes, these tend to be either colourful species or largely black; some species are quite secretive. Some bushshrikes have flamboyant displays. The male puffbacks puff out the loose feathers on their rump and lower back ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William John Swainson
William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of John Timothy Swainson the Second (1756–1824), an original fellow of the Linnean Society. He was cousin of the amateur botanist Isaac Swainson.Etymologisches Worterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen by H. Genaust. Review by Paul A. Fryxell ''Taxon'', Vol. 38(2), 245–246 (1989). His father's family originated in Lancashire, and both grandfather and father held high posts in Her Majesty's Customs, the father becoming Collector at Liverpool. William, whose formal education was curtailed because of an impediment in his speech, joined the Liverpool Customs as a junior clerk at the age of 14."William Swainson F.R.S, F.L.S., Naturalist and Artist: Diaries 1808–1838: Sicily, Malta, Greece, Italy and Brazil." G .M. Swainson, Palmerston, NZ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quill Mites
Syringophilidae is a family of mites, commonly known as quill mites. They are obligatory ectoparasites of birds, and inhabit their feather quills where they feed on subcutaneous tissue and fluids. Typically the Syringophilinae inhabit all but the body feathers (primaries, secondaries, tertials, rectrices and wing coverts), while the Picobinae specialize in infecting the body feathers internally. Quill mites have been recorded from hundreds of bird species, belonging to 95 families and 24 orders. Much knowledge of their hosts, diversity and systematics has been obtained since the late 1990s, but as of 2020 these were still considered to be poorly known. Life cycle A single fertilized female enters the soft calamus of a developing feather through the opening called superior umbilicus. When this is getting closed, it produces offspring; a single male and several females, which develop within this enclosed space. The offspring then fertilize each other and produce one more generation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Introduction to Lichens – An Alliance between Kingdoms . University of California Museum of Paleontology. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms. They come in many colors, sizes, and forms and are sometimes plant-like, but are not s. They may have tiny, leafless branches (); flat leaf-like structures ( |
Mixed-species Feeding Flock
A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These are different from feeding aggregations, which are congregations of several species of bird at areas of high food availability. While it is currently unknown how mixed-species foraging flocks originate, researchers have proposed a few mechanisms for their initiation. Many believe that nuclear species play a vital role in mixed-species flock initiation. Additionally, the forest structure is hypothesized to play a vital role in these flocks' formation. In Sri Lanka, for example, vocal mimicry by the greater racket-tailed drongo might have a key role in the initiation of mixed-species foraging flocks, while in parts of the American tropics packs of foraging golden-crowned warblers might play the same role. Composition Mixed-species foraging ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. Their blood is not totally contained in vessels; some circulates in an open cavity known as the haemocoel. Insects are the most diverse group of animals; they include more than a million described species and represent more than half of all known living organisms. The total number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million; In: potentially over 90% of the animal life forms on Earth are insects. Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans, which are dominated by another arthropod group, crustaceans, which recent research has indicated insects are nested within. Nearly all insects hatch from eggs. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also known as an "eyebrow", it is distinct from the eyestripe, which is a line that runs across the lores, and continues behind the eye. Where a stripe is present only above the lores, and does not continue behind the eye, it is called a supraloral stripe or simply supraloral. On most species which display a supercilium, it is paler than the adjacent feather tracts. The colour, shape or other features of the supercilium can be useful in bird identification. For example, the supercilium of the dusky warbler, an Old World warbler species, can be used to distinguish it from the very similar Radde's warbler. The dusky warbler's supercilium is sharply demarcated, whitish and narrow in front of the eye, becoming broader and more buffy towards the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by the arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest clade of birds and among the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of birds.Ericson, P.G.P. et al. (2003Evolution, biogeography, and patterns of diversification in passerine birds ''J. Avian Biol'', 34:3–15.Selvatti, A.P. et al. (2015"A Paleogene origin for crown passerines and the diversification of the Oscines in the New World" ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'', 88:1–15. Passerines are divided into three clades: Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni (suboscines), and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). The passeri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miombo
The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized by the dominant presence of ''Brachystegia'' and ''Julbernardia'' species of trees, and has a range of climates ranging from humid to semi-arid, and tropical to subtropical or even temperate. The trees characteristically shed their leaves for a short period in the dry season to reduce water loss and produce a flush of new leaves just before the onset of the wet season with rich gold and red colours masking the underlying chlorophyll, reminiscent of autumn colours in the temperate zone. The woodland gets its name from ''miombo'' (plural, singular ''muombo''), the Bemba word for ''Brachystegia'' species. Other Bantu languages of the region, such as Swahili and Shona, have related if not identical words, such as Swahili ''miyombo'' (singular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Latham (ornithologist)
John Latham (27 June 1740 – 4 February 1837) was an English physician, naturalist and author. His main works were ''A General Synopsis of Birds'' (1781–1801) and ''General History of Birds'' (1821–1828). He was able to examine specimens of Australian birds which reached England in the last twenty years of the 18th century, and was responsible for providing English names for many of them. He named some of Australia's most famous birds, including the emu, sulphur-crested cockatoo, wedge-tailed eagle, superb lyrebird, Australian magpie, magpie-lark and pheasant coucal. He was also the first to describe the hyacinth macaw. Latham has been called the "grandfather" of Australian ornithology. Biography John Latham was born on 27 June 1740 at Eltham in northwest Kent. He was the eldest son of John Latham (died 1788), a surgeon, and his mother, who was a descendant of the Sothebys, in Yorkshire. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and then studied anatomy under William Hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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