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Conwy RSPB Reserve
Conwy RSPB reserve is a nature reserve of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds situated on the east side of the Conwy estuary in Conwy county borough, North Wales. It covers 47 hectares (114 acres) and protects a variety of habitats including grassland, scrubland, reedbeds, salt marsh and mudflats. It was created as compensation for the destruction of areas of wildlife habitat during the construction of the A55 road tunnel under the estuary between 1986 and 1991. Waste from dredging was dumped onto the site which was later landscaped to create two large pools and several smaller ones. The reserve opened to the public on 14 April 1995 and facilities for visitors now include a visitor centre, café and three hides. A farmers' market is held on the reserve car park each month. Over 220 species of bird have been recorded on the reserve, including lapwing, little ringed plover, skylark and reed warbler. Large numbers of ducks and waders are present outside the breeding season ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alpine Swift
The alpine swift (''Tachymarptis melba'') formerly ''Apus melba'', is a species of swift found in Africa, southern Europe and Asia. They breed in mountains from southern Europe to the Himalaya. Like common swifts, they are migratory; the southern European population winters further south in southern Africa. They have very short legs which are used for clinging to vertical surfaces. Like most swifts, they never settle voluntarily on the ground, spending most of their lives in the air living on the insects they catch in their beaks. Taxonomy and systematics The genus name is from the Ancient Greek ''takhus'', "fast", and ''marptis'', "seizer". The specific name ''melba'' comes from ‘melano-alba’ or ‘mel-alba’, the two colours that Linnaeus referred to these in his description. A total of ten sub-species are currently recognised (see distribution below). Description and biology This is a large swift measuring 20–22 cm in length with a wingspan of 54–60 cm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broad-billed Sandpiper
The broad-billed sandpiper (''Calidris falcinellus'') is a small wading bird. The scientific name is from Latin. The specific name ''falcinella'' is from ''falx, falcis'', "a sickle. Some research suggests that it should rather go into the genus ''Philomachus''. Description Broad-billed sandpipers are small waders, slightly smaller than the dunlin, but with a longer straighter bill, and shorter legs. The breeding adult has patterned dark grey upperparts and white underparts with blackish markings on the breast. It has a pale crown stripe and supercilia. In the boreal winter, they are pale grey above and white below, like a winter dunlin, but retaining the head pattern. Juveniles have backs, similar to young dunlin, but the white flanks and belly and brown-streaked breast are distinctive. Contact call is a dry, whistling “dree-it, dree-it” and a clicking “dik dik”. Distribution and habitat The broad-billed sandpiper is strongly migratory, spending the non-bree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terek Sandpiper
The Terek sandpiper (''Xenus cinereus'') is a small migratory Palearctic wader species and is the only member of the genus ''Xenus''. It is named after the Terek River which flows into the west of the Caspian Sea, as it was first observed around this area. Taxonomy The Terek sandpiper was formally described and illustrated in 1775 by the German naturalist Johann Anton Güldenstädt under the binomial name ''Scolopax cinerea''. He reported that he had seen pairs breeding at the mouth of the Terek River where it flows into the Caspian Sea. It is now the only species placed in the genus ''Xenus'' that was introduced in 1829 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup. The genus name ''Xenus'' is from Ancient Greek ''xenos'' meaning "stranger"; the specific epithet ''cinereus'' is Latin for "ash-grey" from ''cinis, cineris'', "ashes". The species is considered to be monotypic, no subspecies are recognised. Among the Scolopacidae, ''Xenus'' is part of the shank- tattler-phalarope c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stilt Sandpiper
The stilt sandpiper (''Calidris himantopus'') is a small shorebird. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'' is a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''himantopus'' means "strap foot" or "thong foot". Taxonomy This sandpiper bears some resemblance to the smaller calidrid sandpipers or "stints". DNA sequence information is incapable of determining whether it should be placed in ''Calidris'' or in the monotypic genus '' Micropalama''. It appears most closely allied with the curlew sandpiper, which is another aberrant species only tentatively placed in ''Calidris'' and could conceivably be separated with it in ''Erolia''. Range & habitat The stilt sandpiper breeds in the open arctic tundra of North America. It is a long-distance migrant, wintering mainly in northern South America. It occurs as a rare vagrant in western Europe, Japan and northern Australia. Breeding This species nests on the grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vagrancy In Birds
Vagrancy is a phenomenon in biology whereby an individual animal (usually a bird) appears well outside its normal range; they are known as vagrants. The term accidental is sometimes also used. There are a number of poorly understood factors which might cause an animal to become a vagrant, including internal causes such as navigatory errors (endogenous vagrancy) and external causes such as severe weather (exogenous vagrancy). Vagrancy events may lead to colonisation and eventually to speciation. Birds In the Northern Hemisphere, adult birds (possibly inexperienced younger adults) of many species are known to continue past their normal breeding range during their spring migration and end up in areas further north (such birds are termed spring overshoots). In autumn, some young birds, instead of heading to their usual wintering grounds, take "incorrect" courses and migrate through areas which are not on their normal migration path. For example, Siberian passerines which normal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Starling
The common starling or European starling (''Sturnus vulgaris''), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the ''Mabinogion'' and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare. The common starling has about 12 subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to western Mongolia, and it has been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa and Fiji. This bird i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Rail
The water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the warmer parts of its breeding range. The adult is long, and, like other rails, has a body that is flattened laterally, allowing it easier passage through the reed beds it inhabits. It has mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, black barring on the flanks, long toes, a short tail and a long reddish bill. Immature birds are generally similar in appearance to the adults, but the blue-grey in the plumage is replaced by buff. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails. The former subspecies ''R. indicus'', has distinctive markings and a call that is very different from the pig-like squeal of the western races, and is now usually split as a separate species, the brown-cheeked rail. The water rail breeds in reed beds and other mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wader
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, forage for food crawling or burrowing in the mud and sand, usually small arthropods such as aquatic insects or crustaceans. The term "wader" is used in Europe, while "shorebird" is used in North America, where "wader" may be used instead to refer to long-legged wading birds such as storks and herons. There are about 210 species of wader, most of which live in wetland or coastal environments. Many species of Arctic and temperate regions are strongly migratory, but tropical birds are often resident, or move only in response to rainfall patterns. Some of the Arctic species, such as the little stint, are amongst the longest distance migrants, spending the non- breeding season in the southern hemisphere. Many of the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form taxon; they do not represent a monophyletic group (the group of all descendants of a single common ancestral species), since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water. Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of unrelated water birds with similar forms, such as loons or divers, grebes, gallinules and coots. Etymology The word ''duck'' comes from Old English 'diver', a derivative of the verb 'to duck, bend down low as if to get under something, or dive', because of the way many species in the dabbling duck group feed by upending; compare with Dutch and German 'to dive'. This word replaced Old English / 'duck', possibly to avoid confusion with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reed Warbler
The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler family Acrocephalidae. They are sometimes called marsh warblers or reed warblers, but this invites confusion with marsh warbler and reed warbler proper, especially in North America, where it is common to use lower case for bird species. These are rather drab brownish warblers usually associated with marshes or other wetlands. Some are streaked, others plain. Many species breeding in temperate regions are migratory. This genus has heavily diversified into many species throughout islands across the tropical Pacific. This in turn has led to many of the resulting insular endemic species to become endangered. Several of these species (including all but one of the species endemic to the Marianas and two endemic to French Polynesia) have already gon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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