Critter Class Grebe
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6-A John James Audubon, American Flamingo, 1838
JOHN JAMES AUDUBON [1785–1851] 6 a American Flamingo,1838 American Flamingo is one of the 435 hand-colored engravings that River, a major flyway for migratory birds, and eventually wan- make up John James Audubon’s monumental Birds of America, dered farther from home to comb the American frontier for issued in four volumes between 1826 and 1838. The massive unrecorded species. publication includes life-size representations of nearly five hundred Audubon’s procedure was to study and sketch a bird in its natural species of North American birds. Although Audubon was not the habitat before killing it carefully, using fine shot to minimize dam- first to attempt such a comprehensive catalog, his work departed age. His critical innovation was to then thread wire through the from conventional scientific illustration, which showed lifeless spec- specimen, allowing him to fashion a lifelike pose. He worked in imens against a blank background, by presenting the birds as they watercolor, and had completed some four hundred paintings appeared in the wild. When his pictures were first published, when he decided to publish them as a folio of prints. Failing to find some naturalists objected to Audubon’s use of dramatic action and support in Philadelphia, he sailed for England, where he became pictorial design, but these are the qualities that set his work apart lionized as “The American Woodsman.” The engraving firm and make it not only an invaluable record of early American Robert Havell and Son took on the challenge of reproducing wildlife but an unmatched work of American art. Audubon’s paintings on copper plates and tinting the resulting John James Audubon was born in Haiti and educated in France, black-and-white prints by hand. -
A Pliocene Flamingo from Mexico
June, 1944 THE WILSON BULLETIN 77 Vol. 56. No. 2 A PLIOCENE FLAMINGO FROM MEXICO BY LOYE MILLER IELD parties from the California Institute of Technology have been F fortunate in locating a variety of fossil deposits in Mexico that in- cluded bird remains. Some have been very rich in the quantity and variety of material; for example, the San Josecito Cavern of Nuevo Leon (Miller, ,1943), a deposit of Pleistocene age, yielded several thousand bird bones assigned to over forty species. The present paper deals with a collection of ten fragments, all but one of which are in- cluded in a single species. I am indebted to Dr. Chester Stock in charge of the explorations for the opportunity of working with the bird collec- tions. Dr. Alexander Wetmore has loaned comparative material, and Dr. Hildegarde Howard has been a most congenial fellow student during many conferences on the flamingoes, both Recent and Fossil. To these several colleagues my sincere thanks are offered. The ten fragments are from collecting locality No. 289, California Institute of Technology, known. as the Rincon Pliocene, Chihuahua, Mexico. Associated mammal remains include horse, camel, antelope, and carnivore species. The matrix is a fine grained silt of lightest color, without cementing material. A stiff brush serves to remove it from the well petrified bones. Unfortunately the specimens are most frag- mentary. They do, however, prove to be of interest in several respects; most notably they prove (since several speciments are from pre-volant young) that a small speciesof flamingo was present as a breeding bird. This is the earliest record for the family in America. -
The Penguin-Dance of the Great Crested Grebe
NOTES The Penguin-dance of the Great Crested Grebe.—The Editors have asked me to comment briefly on the remarkable photograph of the Penguin-dance of the Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) published in this issue (plate 48). Comparatively few observers have been fortunate enough to "witness this elaborate form of courtship which has rarely been photographed, being the least often performed of this species' four main ceremonies (first described fully and named by J. S. Huxley in Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1914, pp. 491-562). As in the far more common Head- shaking, the male and female grebe play identical r61es in the Penguin-dance, whereas in the Discovery and the "Display" ceremonies the rdles are different though interchangeable. Penguin-dancing usually occurs in the vicinity of the nest-site, within the territory of the pair, and is almost invariably preceded and followed by a long bout of intense Head-shaking in which Habit-preening is absent. The two birds dive and, while submerged, collect a bill-full of ribbony water-weed. On emergence, they swim towards each other with their tippets fully spread and, when quite close, both rear up out of the water simultaneously. They then meet breast to breast with only the very end of the body in the water, feet splashing to keep up, as shown in the photograph. As they sway together thus for a few seconds, they waggle their heads, gradually dropping the weed. After the normal Head-shaking which follows, the pair sometimes swim to the nest-platform where soliciting and copulation may occur. -
The Tarsometatarsus of the Middle Eocene Loon Colymbiculus Udovichenkoi
– 17 – Paleornithological Research 2013 Proceed. 8th Inter nat. Meeting Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution Ursula B. Göhlich & Andreas Kroh (Eds) The tarsometatarsus of the Middle Eocene loon Colymbiculus udovichenkoi GERALD MAYR1, LEONID GOROBETS2 & EVGENIJ ZVONOK3 1 Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; E-mail: [email protected] 2 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev, Dept. of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Kiev, Ukraine 3 Institute of Geological Sciences of NAS of Ukraine, Branch of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, Kiev, Ukraine Abstract — We describe the previously unknown tarsometatarsus of the earliest unambiguously identified loon, Colymbiculus udovichenkoi, from the Middle Eocene of the Ukraine. Except for being more elongate and apart from details of the hypotarsus morphology, the bone resembles the tarsometatarsus of the Early Miocene Colym- boides minutus. We consider the hypotarsus morphology of Colymbiculus to be plesiomorphic for Gaviiformes. Colymboides and crown group Gaviiformes are each characterized by an autapomorphic hypotarsus morphology, which precludes the former from being directly ancestral to the latter. The similarities shared by C. udovichenkoi and C. minutus, including their small size, are likely to be plesiomorphic for Gaviiformes. Although the disap- pearance of small stem group Gaviiformes may be related to the retreat of loons to cold Northern latitudes, more data are needed to firmly establish this hypothesis. We finally note that early Paleogene stem group Gaviiformes markedly differ from putative Late Cretaceous loons, whose identification needs to be verified by further fossil specimens. Key words: Colymbiculus, Colymboides, fossil birds, Gaviiformes, Eocene, Lutetian, Ukraine Introduction 1982 from the Early Miocene of the Czech Republic (ŠVEC 1982), the earliest stem line- Loons (Gaviiformes) have a fairly comprehen- age representative, being distinctly smaller than sive Neogene fossil record (OLSON 1985; MAYR its modern congeners. -
Flamingo ABOUT the GROUP
Flamingo ABOUT THE GROUP Bulletin of the IUCN-SSC/Wetlands International The Flamingo Specialist Group (FSG) was established in 1978 at Tour du Valat in France, under the leadership of Dr. Alan Johnson, who coordinated the group until 2004 (see profile at www.wetlands.org/networks/Profiles/January.htm). Currently, the group is FLAMINGO SPECIALIST GROUP coordinated from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge, UK, as part of the IUCN- SSC/Wetlands International Waterbird Network. The FSG is a global network of flamingo specialists (both scientists and non- scientists) concerned with the study, monitoring, management and conservation of the world’s six flamingo species populations. Its role is to actively promote flamingo research and conservation worldwide by encouraging information exchange and cooperation amongst these specialists, and with other relevant organisations, particularly IUCN - SSC, Ramsar, WWF International and BirdLife International. FSG members include experts in both in-situ (wild) and ex-situ (captive) flamingo conservation, as well as in fields ranging from field surveys to breeding biology, diseases, tracking movements and data management. There are currently 165 members around the world, from India to Chile, and from France to South Africa. Further information about the FSG, its membership, the membership list serve, or this bulletin can be obtained from Brooks Childress at the address below. Chair Assistant Chair Dr. Brooks Childress Mr. Nigel Jarrett Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Slimbridge Slimbridge Glos. GL2 7BT, UK Glos. GL2 7BT, UK Tel: +44 (0)1453 860437 Tel: +44 (0)1453 891177 Fax: +44 (0)1453 860437 Fax: +44 (0)1453 890827 [email protected] [email protected] Eastern Hemisphere Chair Western Hemisphere Chair Dr. -
Florida Field Naturalist PUBLISHED by the FLORIDA ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Florida Field Naturalist PUBLISHED BY THE FLORIDA ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY VOL. 37, NO. 4 NOVEMBER 2009 PAGES 115-170 Florida Field Naturalist 37(4):115-120, 2009. FIRST RECORD OF LEAST GREBES (Tachybaptus dominicus) NESTING IN FLORIDA LEE M. HASSE AND O. DAVID HASSE 398 N.E. 24th Street, Boca Raton, Florida 33431 The Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus), the smallest New World member of the grebe family (Podicipedidae), occurs from the southwestern United States and Mexico to Chile, Argentina and in the West Indies (Trinidad, Tobago, the Bahamas, and Greater Antilles; Ogilvie and Rose 2003). This is a plump grebe with yellowish eyes, a thin bill, and fluffy white tail coverts, ranging in length from 22-27 cm (8.25-10.5 inches). In basic plumage Least Grebes are brownish to blackish above with a white throat; in alternate plumage the throat is black. Their wetland habitats are varied and include fresh and brack- ish ponds, lakes, slow-flowing rivers, and mangrove swamps that have good vegetative cover along the edges. There are reports of nesting in temporary bodies of water (Storer 1992). Their compact floating nest is made of aquatic vegetation and anchored to rooted plants. The eggs are incubated by both adults and hatch in about 21 days (Palmer 1962). The Least Grebe is reported to nest year-round in the tropics. Although considered non-migratory, they have been found to move long distances (Storer 1992). Norton et al. (2009) report that the Least Grebe has been expanding its range in the Greater and Lesser Antilles in the last de- cade. -
GREATER and LESSER FLAMINGOS Phoenicopterus Ruber and Phoeniconaias Minor
GREATER AND LESSER FLAMINGOS Phoenicopterus ruber and Phoeniconaias minor Greater and Lesser Flamingos © Cliff Buckton © P & H Harris Lesser Flamingo The Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor is the smallest of the world's five flamingo species. It occurs primarily in the Rift Valley lakes of East Africa with about 4 to 5 million birds estimated, but also in small populations in Namibia/Botswana (40,000), Mauritania/Senegal (15,400), Ethiopia (8,300). The alkaline lakes of the Rift Valley are the primary feeding areas for the East Africa population. During non-breeding periods these lakes often hold almost the entire population. Huge feeding flocks of 1-2 million birds frequently gather on lakes Bogoria and Nakuru, creating one of the most stunning wildlife spectacles in the world. Although it is still the most numerous of the five species, the Lesser Flamingo is classified as globally "near threatened" due primarily to its dependence on a limited number of unprotected breeding sites and threats of proposed soda-ash mining and hydro-electric power schemes on the main breeding lakes. The question of whether there is occasional interchange between the East African and southern African populations has yet to be resolved definitely, but considerable circumstantial evidence has now been assembled to show that East African Lesser Flamingos probably do fly to Botswana to breed during periods when the Lake Makgadikgadi Salt Pans are flooded. Their migration routes, flight range and stopover places (if any) are still unknown. It is now known that Lesser Flamingos do fly during the day, at great heights, well above the normal diurnal movement of eagles, their main aerial predator. -
LOONS and GREBES [ ] Common Loon [ ] Pied-Billed Grebe---X
LOONS and GREBES [ ] Common Merganser [ ] Common Loon [ ] Ruddy Duck---x OWLS [ ] Pied-billed Grebe---x [ ] Barn Owl [ ] Horned Grebe HAWKS, KITES and EAGLES [ ] Eared Grebe [ ] Northern Harrier SWIFTS and HUMMINGBIRDS [ ] Western Grebe [ ] Cooper’s Hawk [ ] White-throated Swift [ ] Clark’s Grebe [ ] Red-shouldered Hawk [ ] Anna’s Hummingbird---x [ ] Red-tailed Hawk KINGFISHERS PELICANS and CORMORANTS [ ] Golden Eagle [ ] Belted Kingfisher [ ] Brown Pelican [ ] American Kestrel [ ] Double-crested Cormorant [ ] White-tailed Kite WOODPECKERS [ ] Acorn Woodpecker BITTERNS, HERONS and EGRETS PHEASANTS and QUAIL [ ] Red-breasted Sapsucker [ ] American Bittern [ ] Ring-necked Pheasant [ ] Nuttall’s Woodpecker---x [ ] Great Blue Heron [ ] California Quail [ ] Great Egret [ ] Downy Woodpecker [ ] Snowy Egret RAILS [ ] Northern Flicker [ ] Sora [ ] Green Heron---x TYRANT FLYCATCHERS [ ] Black-crowned Night-Heron---x [ ] Common Moorhen Pacific-slope Flycatcher [ ] American Coot---x [ ] NEW WORLD VULTURES [ ] Black Phoebe---x Say’s Phoebe [ ] Turkey Vulture SHOREBIRDS [ ] [ ] Killdeer---x [ ] Ash-throated Flycatcher WATERFOWL [ ] Greater Yellowlegs [ ] Western Kingbird [ ] Greater White-fronted Goose [ ] Black-necked Stilt SHRIKES [ ] Ross’s Goose [ ] Spotted Sandpiper Loggerhead Shrike [ ] Canada Goose---x [ ] Least Sandpiper [ ] [ ] Wood Duck [ ] Long-billed Dowitcher VIREOS Gadwall [ ] [ ] Wilson’s Snipe [ ] Warbling Vireo [ ] American Wigeon [ ] Mallard---x GULLS and TERNS JAYS and CROWS [ ] Cinnamon Teal [ ] Mew Gull [ ] Western Scrub-Jay---x -
Dieter Thomas Tietze Editor How They Arise, Modify and Vanish
Fascinating Life Sciences Dieter Thomas Tietze Editor Bird Species How They Arise, Modify and Vanish Fascinating Life Sciences This interdisciplinary series brings together the most essential and captivating topics in the life sciences. They range from the plant sciences to zoology, from the microbiome to macrobiome, and from basic biology to biotechnology. The series not only highlights fascinating research; it also discusses major challenges associated with the life sciences and related disciplines and outlines future research directions. Individual volumes provide in-depth information, are richly illustrated with photographs, illustrations, and maps, and feature suggestions for further reading or glossaries where appropriate. Interested researchers in all areas of the life sciences, as well as biology enthusiasts, will find the series’ interdisciplinary focus and highly readable volumes especially appealing. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15408 Dieter Thomas Tietze Editor Bird Species How They Arise, Modify and Vanish Editor Dieter Thomas Tietze Natural History Museum Basel Basel, Switzerland ISSN 2509-6745 ISSN 2509-6753 (electronic) Fascinating Life Sciences ISBN 978-3-319-91688-0 ISBN 978-3-319-91689-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91689-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018948152 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018. This book is an open access publication. Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. -
Identification and Distribution of Clark's Grebe
IDENTIFICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF CLARK'S GREBE JOHN T. RA'Frl, Wildlife Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington99164 For nearly 100 years ornithologists have considered the genus Aechmophorusto includeonly one species,the WesternGrebe (A. occiden- talis). Few ornithologists,especially amateur field ornithologists,have been aware that the WesternGrebe has been consideredpolymorphic, with two distinctphenotypes referred to as dark and light phases (Storer 1965, Mayr and Short 1970). Recent study of sympatricdark-phase and light-phasepopulations indi- catesthe polymorphismclassification is erroneousand that the forms func- tion as separate species(Ratti 1979). Additional data are needed on dark- phaseand light-phasebirds, and hopefullythis paper will aid in alertingboth professionaland amateurornithologists to the identificationand distribution of these species. LITERATURE REVIEW George N. Lawrence (in Baird 1858:894-895) originallydescribed the two grebeforms as separatespecies, calling the dark form the WesternGrebe (Podicepsoccidentalis) and the light form Clark'sGrebe (Podicepsclarkii). However, Coues (1874) and Henshaw (1881) suggestedthat the formswere color phases of the same species,and the American Ornithologists'Union (1886, 1931, 1957) classifiedthe forms as a singlespecies. Mayr and Short (1970:88) attributedthe variationto "scatteredpolymorphism." Both Storer (1965) and Lindvall (1976) reported assortativemating by WesternGrebes in Utah -- the tendencyof birdsto mate with individualsof the same phenotype. -
Aberrant Plumages in Grebes Podicipedidae
André Konter Aberrant plumages in grebes Podicipedidae An analysis of albinism, leucism, brown and other aberrations in all grebe species worldwide Aberrant plumages in grebes Podicipedidae in grebes plumages Aberrant Ferrantia André Konter Travaux scientifiques du Musée national d'histoire naturelle Luxembourg www.mnhn.lu 72 2015 Ferrantia 72 2015 2015 72 Ferrantia est une revue publiée à intervalles non réguliers par le Musée national d’histoire naturelle à Luxembourg. Elle fait suite, avec la même tomaison, aux TRAVAUX SCIENTIFIQUES DU MUSÉE NATIONAL D’HISTOIRE NATURELLE DE LUXEMBOURG parus entre 1981 et 1999. Comité de rédaction: Eric Buttini Guy Colling Edmée Engel Thierry Helminger Mise en page: Romain Bei Design: Thierry Helminger Prix du volume: 15 € Rédaction: Échange: Musée national d’histoire naturelle Exchange MNHN Rédaction Ferrantia c/o Musée national d’histoire naturelle 25, rue Münster 25, rue Münster L-2160 Luxembourg L-2160 Luxembourg Tél +352 46 22 33 - 1 Tél +352 46 22 33 - 1 Fax +352 46 38 48 Fax +352 46 38 48 Internet: http://www.mnhn.lu/ferrantia/ Internet: http://www.mnhn.lu/ferrantia/exchange email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Page de couverture: 1. Great Crested Grebe, Lake IJssel, Netherlands, April 2002 (PCRcr200303303), photo A. Konter. 2. Red-necked Grebe, Tunkwa Lake, British Columbia, Canada, 2006 (PGRho200501022), photo K. T. Karlson. 3. Great Crested Grebe, Rotterdam-IJsselmonde, Netherlands, August 2006 (PCRcr200602012), photo C. van Rijswik. Citation: André Konter 2015. - Aberrant plumages in grebes Podicipedidae - An analysis of albinism, leucism, brown and other aberrations in all grebe species worldwide. Ferrantia 72, Musée national d’histoire naturelle, Luxembourg, 206 p. -
FEEDING BEHAVIOR of the LEAST GREBE (Tachybaptus Dominicus) UPON NEOTROPICAL RANIDS in COSTA RICA
Florida Field Naturalist 44(2):59-62, 2016. FEEDING BEHAVIOR OF THE LEAST GREBE (Tachybaptus dominicus) UPON NEOTROPICAL RANIDS IN COSTA RICA VÍCTOR J. ACOSTA-CHavES1,2,3 AND DANIEL JIMÉNEZ3 1Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica, P.O. Box 1626-3000 Heredia, Costa Rica 2Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, Costa Rica E–mail: [email protected] 3Unión de Ornitólogos de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica Avian predation on amphibians can be considered an important evolutionary force for both taxa, and its documentation helps to elucidate aspects of evolution, ecology, and even conservation (Shea 1987, Wells 2010). But because these interactions are difficult to observe and quantify, the role of amphibians as dietary items of birds is still barely known in the Neotropics (Acosta and Morún 2014). For example, even when grebes (Podicipedidae) have been anecdotally reported to prey on aquatic amphibians (Shea 1987, Stiles and Skutch 1989, Kloskowski et al. 2010), data on habitat selection, diet, and feeding behavior of grebes are primarily from Old World and Nearctic regions (e.g., Shea 1987, Forbes and Sealy 1990, Wiersma et al. 1995, Kloskowski et al. 2010). In Neotropical areas, such as Costa Rica, both natural and artificial lagoons and ponds provide habitat for waterbirds, including grebes (Stiles and Skutch 1989). The Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus) is a widespread waterbird ranging from the southern United States of America to northern Argentina, including the Bahamas and Greater Antilles. In Costa Rica the subspecies T. d. brachypterus is distributed from lowlands to 1525 m ASL, but it is most common in the Central Valley and San Vito Region (Stiles and Skutch 1989).