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KINGFISHER (Ship) (c112-01-52)
Kingfishers are a family (biology), family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, but also can be seen in Europe. They can be found in deep forests near calm ponds and small rivers. The family contains 118 species and is divided into three subfamilies and 19 genera. All kingfishers have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with only small sexual dimorphism, differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey usually caught by swooping down from a perch. While kingfishers are usually thought to live near rivers and eat fish, many species live away from water and eat small invertebrates. Like other members of their order, they nest in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azure Kingfisher
The azure kingfisher (''Ceyx azureus'') is a small kingfisher in the river kingfisher subfamily, Alcedininae.Pizzey, Graham and Doyle, Roy. (1980) ''A Field Guide to the Birds of Australia.'' Collins Publishers, Sydney. Description The azure kingfisher measures in length, and the male weighs while the female is slightly heavier at . It is a very colourful bird, with deep blue to azure back, a large white to buff spot on the side of the neck and throat, rufous-buff with some blue-violet streaks on the breast and flanks. The feet are red with only two forward toes. The lores (the region between the eye and the bill) are white and inconspicuous except in front view, where they stand out as two large white eye-like spots which may have a role in warding off potential predators. Taxonomy The subspecies (see box at right) differ only in minor details: compared with the nominate subspecies ''Ceyx azureus azureus'', ''C. a. ruficollaris'' is smaller, brighter, and has more blue on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Threatened
Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensation'', a mathematical measure of biomass related to population growth rate. This quantitative metric is one method of evaluating the degree of endangerment. IUCN definition The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories, depending on the degree to which they are threatened: *Vulnerable species *Endangered species * Critically endangered species Less-than-threatened categories are near threatened, least concern, and the no longer assigned category of conservation dependent. Species which have not been evaluated (NE), or do not have sufficient data (data deficient) also are not considered "t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleiades (Greek Mythology)
The Pleiades (; grc-gre, Πλειάδες, Ancient Greek pronunciation: ), were the seven sister-nymph, nymphs, companions of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Together with their seven sisters, the Hyades (mythology), Hyades, they were called the Atlantides, Dodonides, or Nysiads, Nysiades, nursemaids and teachers of the infant Dionysus. The Pleiades were thought to have been translated to the night sky as a cluster of stars, the Pleiades, and were associated with rain. Etymology The name Pleiades ostensibly derived from the name of their mother, Pleione, effectively meaning "daughters of Pleione". However, the name of the star-cluster likely came first, and Pleione was invented to explain it. According to another suggestion ''Pleiades'' derived from πλεῖν (''plein'' , "to sail") because of the cluster's importance in delimiting the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea: "the season of navigation began with their heliacal rising". Family The Pleiades' parents were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Aylward Vigors
Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an Ireland, Irish zoologist and politician. He popularized the classification of birds on the basis of the quinarian system. Early life Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow on 1785 as first son from Capt. Nicholas Aylward Vigors which served in 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot, 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment and, his first wife, Catherine Vigors, daughter of Solomon Richards of Solsborough. He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford on November 1803 before he was admitted at Lincoln's Inn on November 1806. Without completing his studies, he served in the army during the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1811 and wounded in Battle of Barrosa, Battle of Barossa on 5 March 1811. Though, he haven't completed his studies yet, he still published "An inquiry into the nature and extent of poetick licence" in London at 1810. He then returned to Oxford to continued his studies and achieved his Bachelor of Arts on 1817 an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Lucien Bonaparte
Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Life and career Bonaparte was the son of Lucien Bonaparte and Alexandrine de Bleschamp. Lucien was a younger brother of Napoleon I, making Charles the emperor’s nephew. Born in Paris, he was raised in Italy. On 29 June 1822, he married his cousin, Zénaïde, in Brussels. Soon after the marriage, the couple left for Philadelphia in the United States to live with Zénaïde's father, Joseph Bonaparte (who was also the paternal uncle of Charles). Before leaving Italy, Charles had already discovered a warbler new to science, the moustached warbler, and on the voyage he collected specimens of a new storm-petrel. On arrival in the United States, he presented a paper on this new bird, which was later named after Alexander Wilson. Bonaparte then set about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Kingfisher
The water kingfishers or Cerylinae are one of the three subfamilies of kingfishers, and are also known as the cerylid kingfishers. All six American species are in this subfamily. These are all specialist fish-eating species, unlike many representatives of the other two subfamilies, and it is likely that they are all descended from fish-eating kingfishers which founded populations in the New World. It was believed that the entire group evolved in the Americas, but this seems not to be true. The original ancestor possibly evolved in Africa – at any rate in the Old World – and the ''Chloroceryle'' species are the youngest ones. Phylogeny Evidence from molecular phylogenetic studies suggests that the Cerylinae originated in Asia and have colonised the New World on two occasions: the first time was around 8 million years ago by the ''Chloroceryle'' and the second time was around 1.9 million years ago by the common ancestor of the ringed kingfisher and the belted kingfisher in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Kingfishers
The river kingfishers or pygmy kingfishers, subfamily Alcedininae, are one of the three subfamilies of kingfishers. The river kingfishers are widespread through Africa and east and south Asia as far as Australia, with one species, the common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis'') also appearing in Europe and northern Asia. This group includes many kingfishers that actually dive for fish. The origin of the subfamily is thought to have been in Asia. These are brightly plumaged, compact birds with short tails, large heads, and long bills. They feed on insects or fish, and lay white eggs in a self-excavated burrow. Both adults incubate the eggs and feed the chicks. Taxonomy A molecular phylogenetic study of the river kingfishers published in 2007 found that the genera as then defined did not form monophyletic groups. The species were subsequently rearranged into four monophyletic genera. A clade containing four species were placed in the resurrected genus ''Corythornis'' and five species ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree Kingfisher
The tree kingfishers, also called wood kingfishers or Halcyoninae, are the most numerous of the three subfamilies of birds in the kingfisher family, with around 70 species divided into 12 genera, including several species of kookaburras. The subfamily appears to have arisen in Indochina and Maritime Southeast Asia and then spread to many areas around the world. Tree kingfishers are widespread through Asia and Australasia, but also appear in Africa and the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, using a range of habitats from tropical rainforest to open woodlands. The tree kingfishers are short-tailed, large-headed, compact birds with long, pointed bills. Like other Coraciiformes, they are brightly coloured. Most are monogamous and territorial, nesting in holes in trees or termite nests. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the chicks. Although some tree kingfishers frequent wetlands, none are specialist fish-eaters. Most species dive onto prey from a perch, mainly taking s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. In Western Europe, the first work to use the term polymathy in its title () was published in 1603 by Johann von Wowern, a Hamburg philosopher. Von Wowern defined polymathy as "knowledge of various matters, drawn from all kinds of studies ... ranging freely through all the fields of the disciplines, as far as the human mind, with unwearied industry, is able to pursue them". Von Wowern lists erudition, literature, philology, philomathy, and polyhistory as synonyms. The earliest recorded use of the term in the English language is from 1624, in the second edition of ''The Anatomy of Melancholy'' by Robert Burton; the form ''polymathist'' is slightly older, first appearing in the ''Diatribae upon the first part of the late History ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ground-roller
The ground rollers are a small family of non-migratory near-passerine birds restricted to Madagascar. They are related to the kingfishers, bee-eaters and rollers. They most resemble the latter group, and are sometimes considered a sub-family of the true rollers. Description Ground rollers share the generally crow-like size and build of the true rollers, ranging from in length, and also hunt reptiles and large insects. They are more terrestrial than Coracidae species, and this is reflected in their longer legs and shorter, more rounded wings. They lack the highly colourful appearance of the true rollers, and are duller in appearance, with striped or flecked plumage. They are much more elusive and shy than their relatives, and are normally difficult to find in the Malagasy forests. Often the hooting breeding call is all that betrays their presence. These birds nest as solitary pairs in holes in the ground which they excavate themselves, unlike the true rollers, which rarel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coraciidae
Coraciidae is a family of Old World birds, which is known as rollers because of the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights. Rollers resemble crows in size and build, and share the colourful appearance of kingfishers and bee-eaters, blues and pinkish or cinnamon browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but not the outer one. They are mainly insect eaters, with ''Eurystomus'' species taking their prey on the wing, and those of the genus ''Coracias'' diving from a perch to catch food items from on the ground, like giant shrikes. Although living rollers are birds of warm climates in the Old World, fossil records show that rollers were present in North America during the Eocene. They are monogamous and nest in an unlined hole in a tree or in masonry, and lay 2–4 eggs in the tropics, 3–6 at higher latitudes. The eggs, which are white, hatch after 17–20 days, and the young remain in the nest for approximately ano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tody
The todies are a family, Todidae, of tiny Caribbean birds in the order Coraciiformes, which also includes the kingfishers, bee-eaters and rollers. The family has one living genus, ''Todus'', and one genus known from the fossil record, '' Palaeotodus''. Taxonomy and systematics The todies were originally placed in the kingfisher genus ''Alcedo'' before being placed in the genus ''Todus'' in 1760 by Mathurin Jacques Brisson. They have been linked to a large number of potential relatives since then, including nightjars, trogons, barbets, jacamars, puffbirds, kingfishers, motmots and even some passerine species such as broadbills, cotingas and flowerpeckers. The todies were placed in their own order, Todiformes, before being placed in the Coraciiformes. Genetic analysis of the extant (living) species suggests that they diversified between 6-7 million years ago. The fossil record of the family is sparse, but three species of tody have been described from fossils found in North Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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