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Starlings
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus '' Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent plumage. Starlings are native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas, as well as North America, Hawaii, and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habitats with native birds and are considered to be invasive species. The starling species familiar to most people in Europe and North America is the common starling, and throughout much of Asia and the Pacific, the common myna is indeed common. Starlings have strong feet, their flight is strong and direct, and they are very gregarious. Their preferred hab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Starling
The common starling or European starling (''Sturnus vulgaris''), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the '' Mabinogion'' and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare. The common starling has about 12 subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to western Mongolia, and it has been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa and Fiji. This b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starling (5503763150)
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent plumage. Starlings are native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas, as well as North America, Hawaii, and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habitats with native birds and are considered to be invasive species. The starling species familiar to most people in Europe and North America is the common starling, and throughout much of Asia and the Pacific, the common myna is indeed common. Starlings have strong feet, their flight is strong and direct, and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nias Hill Myna
The Nias hill myna or Nias myna (''Gracula robusta'') is a member of the starling family. It is an endemic resident of Nias and other nearby islands off western Sumatra. Clements lumps this species with the common hill myna. Description This large, stocky and superficially crow-like myna is the largest of the hill mynas and may be the largest living species in the starling family. It ranges from in total length. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is , the tail is , the bill is and the tarsus is . Body weight in the species has been reported as up to . The Nias hill myna has mainly purple-glossed black plumage. It has bright orange-yellow patches of naked skin and large fleshy yellow wattles on the side of its head and nape. There are large white wing patches, which are obvious in flight. The massive bill is mainly red and the strong legs are bright yellow. Behaviour This myna is arboreal and is found mainly in flocks in hill forests. Like most starlings, the Nias ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hildebrandt's Starling
Hildebrandt's starling (''Lamprotornis hildebrandti'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It forms a superspecies with and has previously been included in the same species as Shelley's starling, a migratory species ranging from Ethiopia and Somalia to Kenya. Both of these species have also been combined into a superspecies with the chestnut-bellied starling of West Africa. It was originally placed in the now defunct genus ''Notauges''. The species is named for Johann Maria Hildebrandt, a German collector who was the first European to obtain specimens. Distribution and habitat Hildebrandt's starling is found in Kenya and Tanzania, where it occupies open country between . Its habitat is open woodland and open thornbrush country. The species is often recorded as being uncommon, but it varies from being fairly common to fairly uncommon. It is not considered threatened by the IUCN, and is listed as least concern. Its habitat is not threatened and it occurs in a number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbott's Starling
Abbott's starling (''Poeoptera femoralis'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ..., and its population is estimated at 2500–9999. This species, at long, is the smallest species of starling. The name of the species commemorates William Louis Abbott (1860-1936), American naturalist and collector, who studied the wildlife of the Indo-Malayan region. Diet The Abbott's starling feeds on insects and fruit, including the fruit of Cornus volkensii. Description The Abbott's starling has a black head and breast with white underparts and a yellow eye. Its voice is a musical whistled c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sturnus
''Sturnus'' is a genus of starlings. As discussed below, the taxonomy of this group is complex, and other authorities differ considerably in which species they place in this genus, and in the species boundaries within ''Sturnus''. The genus name ''Sturnus'' is Latin for "starling". This genus has representatives across most of Eurasia and one species, the common or European starling, has been introduced to South Africa, North America, Australia and New Zealand. The more northerly breeding species are completely or partially migratory, wintering in warmer regions. The ''Sturnus'' starlings are terrestrial species; they walk rather than hop, and have modifications to the skull and its muscles for open-bill probing. The latter adaptation has facilitated the spread of this genus from humid tropical southern Asia to cooler regions of Europe and Asia. Starlings nest in holes in trees or buildings. They are omnivorous and mostly feed on the ground; they specialise in taking invert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamprotornis
''Lamprotornis'' is a large genus of glossy-starlings all of which occur in Africa south of the Sahara. They have glossy blue or green upper parts, which is due to hollow melanin granules arranged in a single layer near the feather barbule's surface. This unique arrangement led to some glossy starlings formerly placed in the genus '' Spreo'' being transferred to ''Lamprotornis'', since they shared this feature (but see also below). The genus ''Lamprotornis'' was introduce by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1820. The type species was subsequently designated as the long-tailed glossy starling. The under parts of these species lack iridescence. They may be blue, purple, yellow or brown. Most ''Lamprotornis'' starlings have striking yellow or red irides and some have long tails. These glossy starlings are found in a variety of habitats from forests to open woodland and gardens. They nest in tree holes, either natural, or made by woodpeckers or barbets, and some wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregarious
Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp stays near her larvae in the nest, parasites are less likely to eat the larvae. Biologists suspect that pressures from parasites and other predators selected this behavior in wasps of the family Vespidae. This wasp behaviour evidences the most fundamental characteristic of animal sociality: parental investment. Parental investment is any expenditure of resources (time, energy, social capital) to benefit one's offspring. Parental investment detracts from a parent's capacity to invest in future reproduction and aid to kin (including other offspring). An animal that cares for its young but shows no other sociality traits is said to be ''subsocial''. An animal that exhibits a high degree of sociality is called a ''social animal''. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenrick's Starling
Kenrick's starling (''Poeoptera kenricki'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands .... References External linksImage at ADW Kenrick's starling Birds of East Africa Kenrick's starling Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Sturnidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passerines
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by the arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest clade of birds and among the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of birds.Ericson, P.G.P. et al. (2003Evolution, biogeography, and patterns of diversification in passerine birds ''J. Avian Biol'', 34:3–15.Selvatti, A.P. et al. (2015"A Paleogene origin for crown passerines and the diversification of the Oscines in the New World" ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'', 88:1–15. Passerines are divided into three clades: Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni (suboscines), and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). The passer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below 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 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 of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. phylogenetic analysis should c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of methods, including spoken, sign, and written language. Many languages, including the most widely-spoken ones, have writing systems that enable sounds or signs to be recorded for later reactivation. Human language is highly variable between cultures and across time. Human languages have the properties of productivity and displacement, and rely on social convention and learning. Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between and . Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) established between languages and dialects. Natural languages are spoken, signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, writing, whis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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