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Bird

For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation).
Orders
Many - see section below.

Birds are bipedal, warm-blooded, oviparous vertebrates characterized primarily by feathers, forelimbs modified as wings, and hollow bones.

Birds range in size from the tiny hummingbirds to the huge Ostrich and Emu. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are about 8,800–10,200 living bird species (plus about 120–130 that have become extinct in the span of human history) in the world, making them the most diverse class of terrestrial vertebrates.

Birds are a very differentiated class, with some feeding on nectar, plants, seeds, insects, rodents, fish, carrion, or other birds. Most birds are diurnal, or active during the day. Some birds, such as the owls and nightjars, are nocturnal or crepuscular (active during twilight hours). Many birds migrate long distances to utilise optimum habitats (e.g., Arctic Tern) while others spend almost all their time at sea (e.g. the Wandering Albatross). Some, such as frigatebirds, stay aloft for days at a time, even sleeping on the wing.

Common characteristics of birds include a bony beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, high metabolic rate, and a light but strong skeleton. Most birds are characterised by flight, though the ratites are flightless, and several other species, particularly on islands, have also lost this ability. Flightless birds include the penguins, ostrich, kiwi, and the extinct Dodo. Flightless species are vulnerable to extinction when humans or the mammals they introduce arrive in their habitat. The Great Auk, flightless rails, and the moa of New Zealand, for example, all became extinct due to human influence.

Birds are among the most extensively studied of all animal groups. Hundreds of academic journals and thousands of scientists are devoted to bird research, while amateur enthusiasts (called birdwatchers or, more commonly, birders) probably number in the millions.

High-level taxonomy

Birds form a class, whose scientific name is Aves. The founding species of class Aves probably lived in the Jurassic period.

According to the most recent consensus, Class Aves and a sister group, the family Crocodylidae, together form a group of unnamed rank, the Archosauria.

The class of birds separated early into two superorders, the Paleognathae (mostly flightless birds like ostriches), and the wildly diverse Neognathae, containing all other birds.


Bird orders

Relationships between bird orders

This is a list of the taxonomic orders in the class Aves. The list of birds gives a more detailed summary, including families.

Paleognathae:

Neognathae:

Note: This is the traditional classification (the so-called Clements order). A more recent, radically different classification based on molecular data has been developed (the so-called Sibley order) and is gaining acceptance.

Evolution

Birds are generally considered to have evolved from theropod dinosaurs. Specifically, birds are members of Maniraptora, a group of theropods which includes dromaeosaurs and oviraptorids, among others. As more non-avian theropods that are closely related to birds are discovered, the formerly clear distinction between non-birds and birds becomes less so. Recent discoveries in northeast China (Liaoning Province) demonstrating that many small theropod dinosaurs had feathers contribute to this ambiguity.

The basal bird Archaeopteryx, from the Jurassic, is well-known as one of the first "missing links" to be found in support of evolution in the late 19th century. It remains the most primitive known bird. Other Mesozoic birds include the Confuciusornithidae, Enantiornithes, Ichthyornis, and Hesperornithiformes, a group of flightless divers resembling grebes and loons.

The recently discovered dromaeosaur, Cryptovolans, was capable of powered flight, contained a keel and had ribs with uncinate processes. In fact, Cryptovolans makes a better "bird" than Archaeopteryx which is missing some of these modern bird features. Because of this, some paleontologists have suggested that dromaeosaurs are actually basal birds whose larger members are secondarily flightless, i.e. dromaeosaurs evolved from birds and not the other way around. Evidence for this theory is currently inconclusive, but digs continue to unearth fossils (especially in China) of the strange feathered dromaeosaurs.

It should be noted that although ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs share the same hip structure as birds, birds actually originated from the saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs, and thus arrived at their hip structure condition independently. In fact, the bird-like hip structure also developed a third time among a peculiar group of theropods, the Therizinosauridae.

Modern birds are classified in Neornithes, which are split into the Paleognathae and Neognathae. The paleognaths include the tinamous (found only in Central and South America) and the ratites. The ratites are large flightless birds, and include ostriches, cassowaries, kiwis and emus. Some scientists suspect that the ratites represent an artificial grouping of birds which have independently lost the ability to fly, while others contend that the ratites never had the ability to fly and are more directly related to the dinosaurs than other modern birds. The basal divergence from the remaining Neognathes was that of the Galloanseri, the superorder containing the Anseriformes (ducks, geese and swans), and the Galliformes (the pheasants, grouse, and their allies). See the chart for more information.

The classification of birds is a contentious issue. Sibley & Ahlquist's Phylogeny and Classification of Birds (1990) is a landmark work on the classification of birds (although frequently debated and constantly revised). A preponderance of evidence seems to suggest that the modern bird orders constitute accurate taxa. However, scientists are not in agreement as to the relationships between the orders; evidence from modern bird anatomy, fossils and DNA have all been brought to bear on the problem but no strong consensus has emerged. See also: Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy.

Reproduction

Baby bird unable to fly yet

Although most male birds have no external sex organs, the male does have two testes which become hundreds of times larger during the breeding season to produce sperm. The female's ovaries also become larger, although only the left ovary actually functions.

In the males of species without a phallus (see below), sperm is stored within the proctodeum compartment within the cloaca prior to copulation. During copulation, the female moves her tail to the side and the male either mounts the female from behind or moves very close to her. He moves the opening of his cloaca, or vent, close to hers, so that the sperm can enter the female's cloaca, in what is referred to as a cloacal kiss. This can happen very fast, sometimes in less than one second.

The sperm is stored in the female's cloaca for anywhere from a week to a year, depending on the species of bird. Then, one by one, eggs will descend from the female's ovaries and become fertilized by the male's sperm, before being subsequently laid by the female. The eggs will then continue their development in the nest.

A juvenile Laughing Gull on the beach at Atlantic City.

Many waterfowl and some other birds, such as the ostrich and turkey, do possess a phallus. Except during copulation, it is hidden within the proctodeum compartment within the cloaca, just inside the vent. The avian phallus differs from the mammalian penis in several ways, most importantly in that it is purely a copulatory organ and is not used for expelling urine.

After the eggs hatch, parent birds provide varying degrees of care in terms of food and protection. Precocial birds can care for themselves independently within minutes of hatching; altricial hatchlings are helpless, blind, and naked, and require extended parental care. The chicks of many ground-nesting birds such as partridges and waders are often able to run virtually immediately after hatching; such birds are referred to as nidifugous. The young of hole-nesters, on the other hand, are often totally incapable of unassisted survival. The process whereby a chick acquires feathers until it can fly is called "fledging".

Some birds, such as pigeons, geese, and Red-crowned Cranes, remain with their mates for life (or for a long period) and may produce offspring on a regular basis.

Mating systems and parental care

Sources for this section include:

The three mating systems that predominate among birds are polyandry, polygyny, and monogamy. Monogamy is seen in approximately 91% of all bird species. Polygyny constitutes 2% of all birds and polyandry is seen in less than 1%. Monogamous species of males and females pair for the breeding season. In some cases, the individuals may pair for life.

One reason for the high rate of monogamy among birds is the fact that male birds are just as adept at parental care as females. In most groups of animals, male parental care is rare, but in birds it is quite common; in fact, it is more extensive in birds than in any other vertebrate class. In birds, male care can be seen as important or essential to female fitness. "In one form of monogamy such as with obligate monogamy a female cannot rear a litter without the aid of a male" (Gowaty, 1983).

These redwing hatchlings are completely dependent on parental care.

The parental behavior most closely associated with monogamy is male incubation. Interestingly, male incubation is the most confining male parental behavior. It takes time and also may require physiological changes that interfere with continued mating. This extreme loss of mating opportunities leads to a reduction in reproductive success among incubating males. "This information then suggests that sexual selection may be less intense in taxa where males incubate, hypothetically because males allocate more effort to parental care and less to mating" (Ketterson and Nolan, 1994). In other words, in bird species in which male incubation is common, females tend to select mates on the basis of parental behaviors rather than physical appearance.

Respiration

Birds ventilate their lungs by means of crosscurrent flow: the air flows at a 90° angle to the flow of blood in the lungs' capillaries. In addition to the lungs themselves, birds have posterior and anterior air sacs (typically nine) which control air flow through the lungs, but do not play a direct role in gas exchange. There are three distinct sets of organs involved in respiration:

It takes a bird two full breaths to completely cycle the air from each inhalation through its lungs and out again. Air flows through the air sacs and lungs as follows:

Since during inhalation and exhalation fresh air flows through the lungs in only one direction, there is no mixing of oxygen rich air and carbon dioxide rich air within the lungs as in mammals. Thus the partial pressure of oxygen in a bird's lungs is the same as the environment, and so birds have more efficient gas-exchange of both oxygen and carbon dioxide than do mammals.

Avian lungs do not have alveoli, as mammalian lungs do, but instead contain millions of tiny passages known as parabronchi, connected at either ends by the dorsobronchi and ventrobronchi. Air flows through the honeycombed walls of the parabronchi and into air capillaries, where oxygen and carbon dioxide are traded with cross-flowing blood capillaries by diffusion.

A diaphram is absent in birds; the entire body cavity acts as a bellows to move air through the lungs. The active phase of respiration in birds is exhalation, requiring effort of the musculature.

Other anatomy

Anatomy of a typical bird

Birds possess a ventriculus, or gizzard, that is composed of four muscular bands that act to rotate and crush food by shifting the food from one area to the next within the gizzard. Depending on the species, the gizzard may contain small pieces of grit or stone that the bird has swallowed to aid in the grinding process of digestion. For birds in captivity, only certain species of birds require grit in their diet for digestion. The use of gizzard stones is a similarity between birds and dinosaurs, which left gizzard stones called gastroliths as trace fossils.

Birds also have skeletons possessing unique characteristics. See bird skeleton.

The region between the eye and bill on the side of a bird's head is called a lore. This region is sometimes featherless, and the skin may be tinted (as in many species of the cormorant family).

Birds and humans

Chinstrap Penguin Birdbox is an artificial platform for birds to make a nest

Birds are an important food source for humans. The most commonly eaten species is the domestic chicken and its eggs, although geese, pheasants, turkeys, and ducks are also widely eaten. Other birds that have been utilized for food include emus, ostriches, pigeons, grouse, quails, doves, woodcocks, songbirds, and others, including small passerines such as finches.

At one time swans and flamingos were delicacies of the rich and powerful, although these are generally protected now.

Many species have become extinct through over-hunting, such as the Passenger Pigeon, and many others have become endangered or extinct through habitat destruction, deforestation and intensive agriculture being common causes for declines.

Numerous species have come to depend on human activities for food and are widespread to the point of being pests. For example, the common pigeon or Rock Dove (Columba livia) thrives in urban areas around the world. In North America, introduced House Sparrows, Common Starlings, and House Finches are similarly widespread.

Other birds have long been used by humans to perform tasks. For example, Homing pigeons were commonly used to carry messages before the advent of modern instant communications methods (many are still kept for sport). Falcons are still used for hunting, while cormorants are employed by fishermen. Chickens and pigeons are popular as experimental subjects, and are often used in biology and comparative psychology research. As birds are very sensitive to toxins, the Canary was historically used in coal mines to indicate the presence of poisonous gases, allowing miners sufficient time to escape without injury.

Colorful, particularly tropical, birds (e.g., parrots, and mynahs) are often kept as pets although this practice has led to the illegal trafficking of some endangered species; CITES, an international agreement adopted in 1963, has considerably reduced trafficking in the bird species it protects.

Bird diseases that can be contracted by humans include psittacosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, Newcastle's disease, mycobacteriosis (avian tuberculosis), avian influenza, giardiasis, and cryptosporidiosis.

Trivia


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Bird diseases that can be contracted by humans include psittacosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, Newcastle's disease, mycobacteriosis (avian tuberculosis), avian influenza, giardiasis, and cryptosporidiosis.
. Colorful, particularly tropical, birds (e.g., parrots, and mynahs) are often kept as pets although this practice has led to the illegal trafficking of some endangered species; CITES, an international agreement adopted in 1963, has considerably reduced trafficking in the bird species it protects. He feels that keeping all citations in the text results in better, more readable writing as he is not tempted to use footnotes to expound on irrelevant points. As birds are very sensitive to toxins, the Canary was historically used in coal mines to indicate the presence of poisonous gases, allowing miners sufficient time to escape without injury. Breyer is well-known for his personal writing style, in which he never uses footnotes in his opinions. Chickens and pigeons are popular as experimental subjects, and are often used in biology and comparative psychology research. According to Berkowitz, "The reason that 'The primarily democratic nature of the Constitution’s governmental structure has not always seemed obvious' ," as Breyer puts it, is "because it’s not true, at least in Breyer’s sense that the Constitution elevates active liberty above modern [negative] liberty." Breyer "demonstrates not fidelity to the Constitution, but rather a determination to rewrite the Constitution’s priorities," and in any eventuality, throws his "Active Liberty" theory overboard where abortion is concerned, "prefer[ing] judicial decisions that protect women’s modern liberty, which remove controversial issues from democratic discourse." In a book which never rises to answer the textualist charge that the Living Documentarian Judge is a law unto himself, Active Liberty "suggests that when necessary, instead of choosing the consequence that serves what he regards as the Constitution’s leading purpose, Breyer will determine the Constitution’s leading purpose on the basis of the consequence that he prefers to vindicate.".

Falcons are still used for hunting, while cormorants are employed by fishermen. Peter Berkowitz's Democratizing The Constitution. For example, Homing pigeons were commonly used to carry messages before the advent of modern instant communications methods (many are still kept for sport). However, both books' historical premises and practical prescriptions have been challenged, for example by Prof. Other birds have long been used by humans to perform tasks. Having established this premise of what liberty is, and argued that the Framers intended to maximize active liberty over the modern liberty, Breyer argues a predominantly Utilitarian case for Judges making rulings which give effect to the democratic intentions of the Constitution. In North America, introduced House Sparrows, Common Starlings, and House Finches are similarly widespread. Breyer terms this "modern liberty." The second Berlinian concept — to Berlin, "positive liberty" - is the "freedom to participate in the government;" In Breyer's terminology, this is the titular "active liberty," which he believes the Judge should champion.

For example, the common pigeon or Rock Dove (Columba livia) thrives in urban areas around the world. But what is liberty? Breyer refers the reader to Isaiah Berlin’s Two Concepts of Liberty. The first Berlinian concept, being what most people understand by liberty, is "freedom from government coercion;" Berlin termed this negative liberty and warned against its dimunition. Numerous species have come to depend on human activities for food and are widespread to the point of being pests. Breyer argues that the Framers of the Constitution set out to establish a democratic government involving the maximum liberty for its citizens. Many species have become extinct through over-hunting, such as the Passenger Pigeon, and many others have become endangered or extinct through habitat destruction, deforestation and intensive agriculture being common causes for declines. Breyer's recent book, Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution, deals with his judicial philosophy at greater length, emphasizing his belief in judicial deference to democratic decision-making. At one time swans and flamingos were delicacies of the rich and powerful, although these are generally protected now. Breyer has also demonstrated a consistent pattern of deference to Congress, voting to overturn congressional legislation at a lower rate than any other Supreme Court justice since 1994.[4].

Other birds that have been utilized for food include emus, ostriches, pigeons, grouse, quails, doves, woodcocks, songbirds, and others, including small passerines such as finches. However, Breyer is also deferential to the interests of law enforcement and urges that the Court be deferential to legislative judgments in its First Amendment rulings. The most commonly eaten species is the domestic chicken and its eggs, although geese, pheasants, turkeys, and ducks are also widely eaten. He has also urged that the Supreme Court cite international law in its decisions. Birds are an important food source for humans. He has consistently voted in favor of abortion rights, which is one of the most controversial areas of the Supreme Court's docket. This region is sometimes featherless, and the skin may be tinted (as in many species of the cormorant family). While somewhat moderate, Breyer most frequently sides with Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, generally acknowledged as being the "liberal" wing of the court.

The region between the eye and bill on the side of a bird's head is called a lore. He has said that while some of his colleagues "emphasize language, a more literal reading of the text, history and tradition," he prefers to consider the "purpose and consequences" of the text.[3]. See bird skeleton.. On the bench, Breyer generally takes a pragmatic approach to constitutional issues, interested more in producing coherence and continuity in the law than in following doctrinal, historical or textual strictures. Birds also have skeletons possessing unique characteristics. Although Chief Justice Roberts joined the Court in September of 2005, the duties of the junior Justice never fall upon the Chief Justice, who is considered primus inter pares -first among equals. The use of gizzard stones is a similarity between birds and dinosaurs, which left gizzard stones called gastroliths as trace fossils. The junior Associate Justice on the Court is expected to take on duties such as opening and closing the door at private conference meetings and fetching coffee [2].

For birds in captivity, only certain species of birds require grit in their diet for digestion. Breyer was also the second longest-serving "junior justice" in the history of the Court, close to surpassing the record set by Justice Joseph Story of 4,228 days (from February 3, 1812 to September 1, 1823); Breyer fell 29 days short of tying this record, which he would have reached on March 1, 2006, had Justice Samuel Alito not joined the Court on January 31, 2006. Depending on the species, the gizzard may contain small pieces of grit or stone that the bird has swallowed to aid in the grinding process of digestion. Senate in an 87 to 9 vote and took his seat August 3, 1994. Birds possess a ventriculus, or gizzard, that is composed of four muscular bands that act to rotate and crush food by shifting the food from one area to the next within the gizzard. Breyer was confirmed by the U.S. The active phase of respiration in birds is exhalation, requiring effort of the musculature. Clinton nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on May 17, 1994, to fill the vacancy left after the retirement of Harry Blackmun in 1994.

A diaphram is absent in birds; the entire body cavity acts as a bellows to move air through the lungs. In 1993 President Bill Clinton considered him for the seat which ultimately went to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Air flows through the honeycombed walls of the parabronchi and into air capillaries, where oxygen and carbon dioxide are traded with cross-flowing blood capillaries by diffusion. On the sentencing commission, Breyer played a key role in reforming federal criminal sentencing procedures, producing the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which were formulated to increase uniformity in sentences for criminal cases. Avian lungs do not have alveoli, as mammalian lungs do, but instead contain millions of tiny passages known as parabronchi, connected at either ends by the dorsobronchi and ventrobronchi. He also served as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States between 1990 and 1994 and the United States Sentencing Commission between 1985 and 1989. Thus the partial pressure of oxygen in a bird's lungs is the same as the environment, and so birds have more efficient gas-exchange of both oxygen and carbon dioxide than do mammals. His nomination to the Court of Appeals was the last judgeship approved by the Senate in the Carter administration.

Since during inhalation and exhalation fresh air flows through the lungs in only one direction, there is no mixing of oxygen rich air and carbon dioxide rich air within the lungs as in mammals. From 1980 to 1994, he served as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and as its Chief Judge from 1990 to 1994. Air flows through the air sacs and lungs as follows:. Breyer was a visiting professor at the College of Law in Sydney, Australia and later at the University of Rome. It takes a bird two full breaths to completely cycle the air from each inhalation through its lungs and out again. Both remain extremely important in the law of administration and bureaucracies. There are three distinct sets of organs involved in respiration:. While there, he authored two highly influential books on deregulation: Breaking the Vicious Circle: Toward Effective Risk Regulation and Regulation and Its Reform.

In addition to the lungs themselves, birds have posterior and anterior air sacs (typically nine) which control air flow through the lungs, but do not play a direct role in gas exchange. At Harvard, Breyer was known as a leading expert on administrative law. Birds ventilate their lungs by means of crosscurrent flow: the air flows at a 90° angle to the flow of blood in the lungs' capillaries. Breyer stayed at Harvard Law School until 1994, and he also served as a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government from 1977 to 1980. In other words, in bird species in which male incubation is common, females tend to select mates on the basis of parental behaviors rather than physical appearance. Breyer became an assistant professor, law professor, and lecturer at Harvard Law School starting in 1967, the same year he married Joanna Hare, a psychologist and member of the British aristocracy with whom he now has three children (Chloe, Nell, and Michael). "This information then suggests that sexual selection may be less intense in taxa where males incubate, hypothetically because males allocate more effort to parental care and less to mating" (Ketterson and Nolan, 1994). Kennedy of Massachusetts, and helped pass a airline deregulation legislation in the United States that closed the Civil Aeronautics Board.

This extreme loss of mating opportunities leads to a reduction in reproductive success among incubating males. He worked closely with the chairman of the committee, Senator Edward M. It takes time and also may require physiological changes that interfere with continued mating. Senate Committee on the Judiciary from 1974 to 1975 and served as chief counsel of the committee from 1979 to 1980. Interestingly, male incubation is the most confining male parental behavior. Breyer was a special counsel to the U.S. The parental behavior most closely associated with monogamy is male incubation. Attorney General for Antitrust from 1965 to 1967 and an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force in 1973.

"In one form of monogamy such as with obligate monogamy a female cannot rear a litter without the aid of a male" (Gowaty, 1983). He was a special assistant to the Assistant U.S. In birds, male care can be seen as important or essential to female fitness. Breyer served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg during the 1964 term. In most groups of animals, male parental care is rare, but in birds it is quite common; in fact, it is more extensive in birds than in any other vertebrate class. [1]. One reason for the high rate of monogamy among birds is the fact that male birds are just as adept at parental care as females. Breyer is the older brother of federal district judge Charles Breyer.

In some cases, the individuals may pair for life. After graduating from Lowell, Breyer went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Stanford University, a Bachelor of Arts from Magdalen College at the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from Harvard Law School. Monogamous species of males and females pair for the breeding season. At Lowell, he was a member of the Lowell Forensic Society and debated regularly in high school debate tournaments, including against future Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Tribe. Polygyny constitutes 2% of all birds and polyandry is seen in less than 1%. In 1955, Breyer graduated from Lowell High School. Monogamy is seen in approximately 91% of all bird species. At age 12, he was awarded Eagle Scout.

The three mating systems that predominate among birds are polyandry, polygyny, and monogamy. Breyer was born to a middle-class Jewish family in San Francisco, California, on August 15, 1938. Sources for this section include:. . Some birds, such as pigeons, geese, and Red-crowned Cranes, remain with their mates for life (or for a long period) and may produce offspring on a regular basis. Supreme Court. The process whereby a chick acquires feathers until it can fly is called "fledging". Since 1994 he has served as an Associate Justice of the U.S.

The young of hole-nesters, on the other hand, are often totally incapable of unassisted survival. Stephen Gerald Breyer (born August 15, 1938) is an American attorney, political figure, and jurist. The chicks of many ground-nesting birds such as partridges and waders are often able to run virtually immediately after hatching; such birds are referred to as nidifugous. ISBN 140003003X. Precocial birds can care for themselves independently within minutes of hatching; altricial hatchlings are helpless, blind, and naked, and require extended parental care. Vintage. After the eggs hatch, parent birds provide varying degrees of care in terms of food and protection. My Life.

The avian phallus differs from the mammalian penis in several ways, most importantly in that it is purely a copulatory organ and is not used for expelling urine. Clinton, Bill (2005). Except during copulation, it is hidden within the proctodeum compartment within the cloaca, just inside the vent. Many waterfowl and some other birds, such as the ostrich and turkey, do possess a phallus. The eggs will then continue their development in the nest.

Then, one by one, eggs will descend from the female's ovaries and become fertilized by the male's sperm, before being subsequently laid by the female. The sperm is stored in the female's cloaca for anywhere from a week to a year, depending on the species of bird. This can happen very fast, sometimes in less than one second. He moves the opening of his cloaca, or vent, close to hers, so that the sperm can enter the female's cloaca, in what is referred to as a cloacal kiss.

During copulation, the female moves her tail to the side and the male either mounts the female from behind or moves very close to her. In the males of species without a phallus (see below), sperm is stored within the proctodeum compartment within the cloaca prior to copulation. The female's ovaries also become larger, although only the left ovary actually functions. Although most male birds have no external sex organs, the male does have two testes which become hundreds of times larger during the breeding season to produce sperm.

See also: Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. However, scientists are not in agreement as to the relationships between the orders; evidence from modern bird anatomy, fossils and DNA have all been brought to bear on the problem but no strong consensus has emerged. A preponderance of evidence seems to suggest that the modern bird orders constitute accurate taxa. Sibley & Ahlquist's Phylogeny and Classification of Birds (1990) is a landmark work on the classification of birds (although frequently debated and constantly revised).

The classification of birds is a contentious issue. See the chart for more information. The basal divergence from the remaining Neognathes was that of the Galloanseri, the superorder containing the Anseriformes (ducks, geese and swans), and the Galliformes (the pheasants, grouse, and their allies). Some scientists suspect that the ratites represent an artificial grouping of birds which have independently lost the ability to fly, while others contend that the ratites never had the ability to fly and are more directly related to the dinosaurs than other modern birds.

The ratites are large flightless birds, and include ostriches, cassowaries, kiwis and emus. The paleognaths include the tinamous (found only in Central and South America) and the ratites. Modern birds are classified in Neornithes, which are split into the Paleognathae and Neognathae. In fact, the bird-like hip structure also developed a third time among a peculiar group of theropods, the Therizinosauridae.

It should be noted that although ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs share the same hip structure as birds, birds actually originated from the saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs, and thus arrived at their hip structure condition independently. Evidence for this theory is currently inconclusive, but digs continue to unearth fossils (especially in China) of the strange feathered dromaeosaurs. dromaeosaurs evolved from birds and not the other way around. Because of this, some paleontologists have suggested that dromaeosaurs are actually basal birds whose larger members are secondarily flightless, i.e.

In fact, Cryptovolans makes a better "bird" than Archaeopteryx which is missing some of these modern bird features. The recently discovered dromaeosaur, Cryptovolans, was capable of powered flight, contained a keel and had ribs with uncinate processes. Other Mesozoic birds include the Confuciusornithidae, Enantiornithes, Ichthyornis, and Hesperornithiformes, a group of flightless divers resembling grebes and loons. It remains the most primitive known bird.

The basal bird Archaeopteryx, from the Jurassic, is well-known as one of the first "missing links" to be found in support of evolution in the late 19th century. Recent discoveries in northeast China (Liaoning Province) demonstrating that many small theropod dinosaurs had feathers contribute to this ambiguity. As more non-avian theropods that are closely related to birds are discovered, the formerly clear distinction between non-birds and birds becomes less so. Specifically, birds are members of Maniraptora, a group of theropods which includes dromaeosaurs and oviraptorids, among others.

Birds are generally considered to have evolved from theropod dinosaurs. A more recent, radically different classification based on molecular data has been developed (the so-called Sibley order) and is gaining acceptance. Note: This is the traditional classification (the so-called Clements order). Neognathae:.

Paleognathae:. The list of birds gives a more detailed summary, including families. This is a list of the taxonomic orders in the class Aves.
.

The class of birds separated early into two superorders, the Paleognathae (mostly flightless birds like ostriches), and the wildly diverse Neognathae, containing all other birds. According to the most recent consensus, Class Aves and a sister group, the family Crocodylidae, together form a group of unnamed rank, the Archosauria. The founding species of class Aves probably lived in the Jurassic period. Birds form a class, whose scientific name is Aves.

. Hundreds of academic journals and thousands of scientists are devoted to bird research, while amateur enthusiasts (called birdwatchers or, more commonly, birders) probably number in the millions. Birds are among the most extensively studied of all animal groups. The Great Auk, flightless rails, and the moa of New Zealand, for example, all became extinct due to human influence.

Flightless species are vulnerable to extinction when humans or the mammals they introduce arrive in their habitat. Flightless birds include the penguins, ostrich, kiwi, and the extinct Dodo. Most birds are characterised by flight, though the ratites are flightless, and several other species, particularly on islands, have also lost this ability. Common characteristics of birds include a bony beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, high metabolic rate, and a light but strong skeleton.

Some, such as frigatebirds, stay aloft for days at a time, even sleeping on the wing. the Wandering Albatross). Many birds migrate long distances to utilise optimum habitats (e.g., Arctic Tern) while others spend almost all their time at sea (e.g. Some birds, such as the owls and nightjars, are nocturnal or crepuscular (active during twilight hours).

Most birds are diurnal, or active during the day. Birds are a very differentiated class, with some feeding on nectar, plants, seeds, insects, rodents, fish, carrion, or other birds. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are about 8,800–10,200 living bird species (plus about 120–130 that have become extinct in the span of human history) in the world, making them the most diverse class of terrestrial vertebrates. Birds range in size from the tiny hummingbirds to the huge Ostrich and Emu.

Birds are bipedal, warm-blooded, oviparous vertebrates characterized primarily by feathers, forelimbs modified as wings, and hollow bones. The recent avian flu outbreaks is named after the word avian. The Latin word for bird is avian. Tubenoses can eject an unpleasant slime against an aggressor, and some species of pitohui, found in New Guinea, secrete a powerful neurotoxin in their feathers.

Few birds use chemical defences against predators. The birds of a region are called the avifauna. To preen or groom their feathers, birds use their bills to brush away foreign particles. Second exhalation: air flows from the anterior sacs back through the trachea and out of the body.

Second inhalation: air flows from the lungs to the anterior air sacs. First exhalation: air flows from the posterior air sacs to the lungs. First inhalation: air flows through the trachea, bronchi, parabronchi (in the lung) and into the posterior air sacs. the posterior air sacs (posterior thoracics and abdominals).

the lungs, and. the anterior air sacs (interclavicular, cervicals, and anterior thoracics),. Evolution 34(5): 973-982 (1980). Zeveloff, Samuel and Boyce, Mark: Parental Investment and Mating Systems in Mammals.

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 25: 601-28 (1994). and Nolan, Val: Male Parental Behavior in Birds. Ketterson, Ellen D. The American Naturalist 121(2): 149-160 (1983).

Gowaty, Patricia Adair: Male Parental Care and Apparent Monogamy among Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia Sialis). Passeriformes, passerines. Coliiformes, mousebirds. Trogoniformes, trogons.

Piciformes, woodpeckers and allies. Coraciiformes, kingfishers. Trochiliformes, hummingbirds. Apodiformes, swifts.

Caprimulgiformes, nightjars and allies. Strigiformes, owls. Cuculiformes, cuckoos. Psittaciformes, parrots and allies.

Columbiformes, doves and pigeons. Pteroclidiformes, sandgrouse. Charadriiformes, plovers and allies. Gruiformes, cranes and allies.

Turniciformes, button-quail. Falconiformes, falcons. Accipitriformes, eagles, hawks and allies. Phoenicopteriformes, flamingos.

Ciconiiformes, storks and allies. Pelecaniformes, pelicans and allies. Sphenisciformes, penguins. Procellariiformes, albatrosses, petrels, and allies.

Podicipediformes, grebes. Gaviiformes, loons. Galliformes, fowl. Anseriformes, waterfowl.

Tinamiformes, tinamous. Struthioniformes, Ostrich, emus, kiwis, and allies.