What are Birds?

Birds are a hugely varied and fascinating part of our world's ecosystem, from common sparrows to parrots to eagles to cranes to weird muppet-looking birds like the potoo. In this talk, I'll showcase a few of my favorite birds and their interesting qualities, and discuss some ways we can help make the world a better place for our feathered friends.

Transcript

1. What Are Birds? a discussion of birds, by carly ho
3. But really, what is a bird?
4. Generally, a bird: ◦ Has a beak ◦ Reproduces by laying hard-shelled eggs ◦ Has feathers ◦ Is warm-blooded and has a spine ◦ Has a four-chambered heart ◦ Has pretty light bones
5. Things some birds do, but not all: ◦ Talk ◦ Use tools ◦ Fly ◦ Pass on knowledge across generations ◦ Migrate
6. Birds are incredibly diverse
9. A selection of intriguing birds
10. Nightjars
11. Facts about the nightjar ◦ Might be a cryptid - an old myth says they suck the milk from goats ◦ So good at hiding that some species have only been seen literally once ◦ Some of them can hibernate for weeks or months ◦ Fancy wings ◦ A close relative is the potoo
12. some nightjars males get these sweet wing decs during breeding season
13. (a potoo)
14. Pigeons
15. Facts about pigeons ◦ Technically city-dwelling wild pigeons are called "feral pigeons" ◦ Domesticated bird species, which means they are actually pretty good pets ◦ Have served honorably in past wars, e.g., the highly-decorated Cher Ami
16. More facts about pigeons ◦ They're some of the more intelligent birds ◦ There are so many kinds of pigeons I could probably do a whole talk on just pigeons ◦ While we consider city pigeons overabundant, passenger pigeons went extinct after being v numerous ◦ Many species of pigeon are extinct in the wild
17. Polynesian ground dove (left), soccorro dove (right)
18. Parrotlets
19. Facts about parrotlets ◦ The smallest new world parrot species ◦ They form life-long pair bonds with mates and do the same with people in captivity sometimes ◦ Parrots of any size (parrotlets included) have v powerful beaks and are not to be messed with ◦ They can potentially live 20-30 years ◦ They think glasses are a jungle gym
20. tumblr user flock-talk and the best encapsulation of parrotlet personalities possible
21. or: birding Let's look at a bird
22. What is birding? ◦ Birding, or birdwatching, is going out and looking for birds for fun! ◦ Birders try and view interesting birds, and/or identify them by sound, since types of birds have unique calls ◦ There are many organizations dedicated to helping people appreciate birds in their community by birding
23. Birding resources In Chicago: chicagobirder.org American Birding Association: aba.org The Audubon Society: audubon.org/birding You'll probably want a field guide for IDing birds and some binoculars!
24. Help a bird! or: conservation
25. Bird conservation matters The biggest threats to bird populations are often generated by human populations. ◦ Hunting, pre-Migratory Bird Treaty Act ◦ Unsupervised outdoor cats ◦ Window collisions ◦ Congress
26. What you can do! ◦ Go to audubon.org/takeaction ◦ Find a local wildlife rescue to volunteer with ◦ Keep any outdoor pets supervised ◦ If you want a pet bird, consider adopting! ◦ Help efforts to lobby for bird-safe windows in new buildings ◦ Get involved in birding to learn more about birds!
27. this has been a discussion of birds @carlymho