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Speculum Feather
The speculum is a patch, often distinctly coloured, on the secondary wing feathers, or ''remiges'', of some birds. Examples of the colour(s) of the speculum in a number of ducks are: * Common teal and green-winged teal: Iridescent green edged with buff. * Blue-winged teal: Iridescent green. The species' common name comes from the sky-blue wing coverts. * Crested duck and bronze-winged duck: Iridescent purple-bronze, edged white. * Pacific black duck: Iridescent green, edged light buff. * Mallard: Iridescent purple-blue with white edges. * American black duck: Iridescent violet bordered in black and may have a thin white trailing edge. * Northern pintail: Iridescent green in male and brown in female, both are white on trailing edge. * Gadwall: Both sexes have white inner secondaries. * Yellow-billed duck: Iridescent green or blue, bordered white. Bright wing speculums are also known from a number of other birds; among them are several parrots from the genus ''Amazona Amazon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flickr - Law Keven - Happy Feathery Friday
Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional photographers to host high-resolution photos. It has changed ownership several times and has been owned by SmugMug since April 20, 2018. Flickr had a total of 112 million registered members and more than 3.5 million new images uploaded daily. On August 5, 2011, the site reported that it was hosting more than 6 billion images. Photos and videos can be accessed from Flickr without the need to register an account, but an account must be made to upload content to the site. Registering an account also allows users to create a profile page containing photos and videos that the user has uploaded and also grants the ability to add another Flickr user as a contact. For mobile users, Flickr has official mobile apps for iOS, Android, and an op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mallard
The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. Males have purple patches on their wings, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is and the bill is long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing . Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varyi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amazona
Amazon parrots are parrots in the genus ''Amazona''. They are medium-sized, short-tailed parrots native to the Americas, with their range extending from South America to Mexico and the Caribbean. ''Amazona'' is one of the 92 genera of parrots that make up the order Psittaciformes and is in the family Psittacidae, one of three families of true parrots. It contains about thirty species. Most amazons are predominantly green, with accenting colors that depend on the species, and they can be quite vivid. They feed primarily on seeds, nuts, and fruits, supplemented by leafy matter. Many amazons have the ability to mimic human speech and other sounds. Partly because of this, they are popular as pets or companion parrots, and a small industry has developed in breeding parrots in captivity for this market. This popularity has led to many parrots being taken from the wild to the extent that some species have become threatened. The United States and the European Union have made the captu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family (taxonomy), family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parrots
Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genus (biology), genera comprising the order (biology), order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropics, tropical and subtropics, subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the true parrot, Psittacoidea ("true" parrots), the Cockatoo, Cacatuoidea (cockatoos), and the New Zealand parrot, Strigopoidea (New Zealand parrots). One-third of all parrot species are threatened by extinction, with higher aggregate extinction risk (Red List Index, IUCN Red List Index) than any other comparable bird group. Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution with several species inhabiting temperateness, temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere, as well. The greatest biodiversity, diversity of parrots is in South America and Australasia. Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved beak, bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed Dactyly#In birds, zygodactyl f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellow-billed Duck
The yellow-billed duck (''Anas undulata'') is a 51–58 cm long dabbling duck which is an abundant resident breeder in southern and eastern Africa. This duck is not migratory, but wanders in the dry season to find suitable waters. It is highly gregarious outside the breeding season and forms large flocks. Description These are mallard-sized mainly grey ducks with a darker head and bright yellow bill. The wings are whitish below, and from above show a white-bordered green speculum. Sexes are similar, and juveniles are slightly duller than adults. The north-eastern race is darker and has a brighter bill and blue speculum. It is a bird of freshwater habitats in fairly open country and feeds by dabbling for plant food mainly in the evening or at night. It nests on the ground in dense vegetation near water. Rarely, it is found in suburban areas, in close proximity to golf courses, parks and lakes or dams. The clutch numbers between six and twelve eggs. The male has a teal- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gadwall
The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. Taxonomy The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown that it is a sister species with the falcated duck; the two are closely related to the three species of wigeons, and all of them have been assigned to the genus ''Mareca''. There are two subspecies: * ''M. s. strepera'', the common gadwall, described by Linnaeus, is the nominate subspecies. * ''M. s. couesi'', Coues's gadwall, extinct 1874, was formerly found only on Teraina, a coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The specific name ''strepera'' is Late Latin for "noisy". The etymology of the word ''gadwall'' is not known, but the name has been in use since 1666. Description The gadwall is long with a wingspan. The male is slightly larger than the female, weighing on average against her . The breeding male is patterned grey, with a black re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Pintail
The pintail or northern pintail (''Anas acuta'') is a duck species with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its breeding range to the equator. Unusually for a bird with such a large range, it has no geographical subspecies if the possibly conspecific duck Eaton's pintail is considered to be a separate species. This is a large duck, and the male's long central tail feathers give rise to the species' English and scientific names. Both sexes have blue-grey bills and grey legs and feet. The drake is more striking, having a thin white stripe running from the back of its chocolate-coloured head down its neck to its mostly white undercarriage. The drake also has attractive grey, brown, and black patterning on its back and sides. The hen's plumage is more subtle and subdued, with drab brown feathers similar to those of other female dabbling ducks. Hens make a coarse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Black Duck
The American black duck (''Anas rubripes'') is a large dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. It was described by William Brewster in 1902. It is the heaviest species in the genus ''Anas'', weighing on average and measuring in length with an wingspan. It somewhat resembles the female and eclipse male mallard in coloration, but has a darker plumage. The male and female are generally similar in appearance, but the male's bill is yellow while the female's is dull green with dark marks on the . It is native to eastern North America. During the breeding season, it is usually found in coastal and freshwater wetlands from Saskatchewan to the Atlantic in Canada and the Great Lakes and the Adirondacks in the United States. It is a partially migratory species, mostly wintering in the east-central United States, especially in coastal areas. It interbreeds regularly and extensively with the mallard, to which it is closely related. The female lays six to fourteen oval eggs, which have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Black Duck
The Pacific black duck (''Anas superciliosa''), commonly known as the PBD, is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north and French Polynesia in the east. It is usually called the gray duck in New Zealand, where it is also known by its Maori name, . Taxonomy The Pacific black duck was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with all the other ducks, geese and swans in the genus ''Anas'' and coined the binomial name ''Anas superciliosa''. Gmelin based his description on the "Supercilious duck" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. The naturalist Joseph Banks had provided Latham with a water-colour drawing of the duck by Georg Forster who had accompanied Jam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secondary Wing Feather
Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail are called rectrices (), singular rectrix (). The primary function of the flight feathers is to aid in the generation of both thrust and lift, thereby enabling flight. The flight feathers of some birds have evolved to perform additional functions, generally associated with territorial displays, courtship rituals or feeding methods. In some species, these feathers have developed into long showy plumes used in visual courtship displays, while in others they create a sound during display flights. Tiny serrations on the leading edge of their remiges help owls to fly silently (and therefore hunt more successfully), while the extra-stiff rectrices of woodpeckers help them to brace against tree trunks as they hammer on them. Even flightless birds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bronze-winged Duck
The bronze-winged duck (''Speculanas specularis'') also known as the spectacled duck, is a dabbling duck and the sole member of its genus ''Speculanas''. It is often placed in ''Anas'' with most other dabbling ducks, but its closest relative is either the crested duck or the Brazilian duck, which likewise form monotypic genera. Together they belong to a South American lineage which diverged early from the other dabbling ducks and may include the steamer ducks. Named after the "bronze" speculum this species is also known as "pato perro" or "dog-duck" after the harsh barking call of the female. The bronze-winged duck lives among forested rivers and fast-flowing streams on the lower slopes of the South American Andes, in central and southern Chile and adjacent parts of Argentina. The sexes are alike. As noted by Johnsgard (2010): "Most observers agree that heavily forested rivers that are relatively swift-flowing are the preferred habitat of this species, although they also occu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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