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Bare-fronted Hoodwink
The Bare-fronted Hoodwink (''Dissimulatrix spuria'') was a hoax and satirical wastebasket taxon, wastebasket species of bird created by ornithologist M. F. M. Meiklejohn. The Hoodwink has the ability to be "almost seen" or "almost captured". Bird watchers can easily identify this bird by its "blurred appearance and extremely rapid flight away from the observer." Meiklejohn claimed that the single species could easily account for every bird not completely sighted. Birdwatchers added this species to their list of birds to watch for, and amateurs seemed to sight the Hoodwink more often. On 1 April 1975, the bird was put on display at the Royal Scottish Museum at Edinburgh. The exhibit also included photos of blurry birds flying away. The bird was created using the head of a carrion crow, the body of a plover, and the feet of an unknown waterfowl. The bare front appeared to be wax. Meiklejohn's paper was published in the scientific journal ''Bird Notes'' in 1950. The paper was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Wastebasket Taxon
Wastebasket taxon (also called a wastebin taxon, dustbin taxon or catch-all taxon) is a term used by some taxonomists to refer to a taxon that has the purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically defined by either their designated members' often superficial similarity to each other, or their ''lack'' of one or more distinct character states or by their ''not'' belonging to one or more other taxa. Wastebasket taxa are by definition either paraphyletic or polyphyletic, and are therefore not considered valid taxa under strict cladistic rules of taxonomy. The name of a wastebasket taxon may in some cases be retained as the designation of an evolutionary grade, however. Examples There are many examples of paraphyletic groups, but true "wastebasket" taxa are those that are known not to, and perhaps not intended to, represent natural groups, but are nevertheless used as convenient groups of organisms. The acritarchs are perhaps the most famous ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology (biology), morphology, behaviour, or ecological niche. In addition, palaeontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. About 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a binomial nomenclature, two-part name, a "binomen". The first part of a binomen is the name of a genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name (zoology), specific name or the specific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ornithologist
Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds. It has also been an area with a large contribution made by amateurs in terms of time, resources, and financial support. Studies on birds have helped develop key concepts in biology including evolution, behaviour and ecology such as the definition of species, the process of speciation, instinct, learning, ecological niches, guilds, insular biogeography, phylogeography, and conservation. While early ornithology was principally concerned with descriptions and distributions of species, ornithologists today seek answers to very specific questions, often using birds as models to test hypotheses or predictions based on theories. Most modern biological theories apply ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Royal Scottish Museum
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a museum of Scottish history and culture. It was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in 1866 as the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, renamed in 1904, and for the period between 1985 and the merger named the Royal Museum of Scotland or simply the Royal Museum), with international collections covering science and technology, natural history, and world cultures. The two connected buildings stand beside each other on Chambers Street, by the junction with the George IV Bridge, in central Edinburgh. The museum is part of National Museums Scotland and admission is free. The two buildings retain distinctive characters: the Museum of Scotland is housed in a modern building opened in 1998, while the former Royal Museum building was begun in 1861 and partially opened in 1866, with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh had a population of in , making it the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, second-most populous city in Scotland and the List of cities in the United Kingdom, seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The Functional urban area, wider metropolitan area had a population of 912,490 in the same year. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, the Courts of Scotland, highest courts in Scotland, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch in Scotland. It is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The city has long been a cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Carrion Crow
The carrion crow (''Corvus corone'') is a passerine bird of the family Corvidae, native to western Europe and the eastern Palearctic. Taxonomy and systematics The carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', and it still bears its original name of ''Corvus corone''. The binomial name is derived from the Latin , "raven", and Greek , "crow". The hooded crow (''Corvus cornix''), formerly regarded as a subspecies, has been split off as a separate species, and there is some discussion whether the eastern carrion crow (''C. c. orientalis'') is distinct enough to warrant specific status; the two taxa are well separated, and it has been proposed they could have evolved independently in the wetter, maritime regions at the opposite ends of the Eurasian landmass.Madge, Steve & Burn, Hilary (1994): ''Crows and jays: a guide to the crows, jays and magpies of the world''. A&C Black, London. Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Plover
Plovers ( , ) are members of a widely distributed group of wader, wading birds of subfamily Charadriinae. The term "plover" applies to all the members of the subfamily, though only about half of them include it in their name. Species list in taxonomic sequence The taxonomy of family Charadriidae is unsettled. At various times the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings of family Charadriidae have been distributed among several subfamilies, with Charadriinae including most of the species. The International Ornithological Congress (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy do not assign species to subfamilies. The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) includes all of the species in Charadriinae. The North American Classification Committee of the AOS and BirdLife International's ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' separate the four members of genus ''Pluvialis'' as subfamily Pluvialinae. The IOC recognizes these 69 species of plovers, dottere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at the water surface. With the exception of screamers, males have penises, a trait that has been lost in the Neoaves, the clade consisting of all other modern birds except the galliformes and paleognaths. Due to their aquatic nature, most species are web-footed. Evolution Anseriformes are one of only two types of modern bird to be confirmed present during the Mesozoic alongside the other dinosaurs, and in fact were among the very few birds to survive their extinction, along with their cousins, the Galliformes. These two groups only occupied two ecological niches during the Mesozoic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bird Notes
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment through public awareness campaigns, petitions and through the operation of nature reserves throughout the United Kingdom. In 2021/22 the RSPB had revenue of £157 million, 2,200 employees, 10,500 volunteers and 1.1 million members (including 195,000 youth members), making it one of the world's largest wildlife conservation organisations. The RSPB has many local groups and maintains 222 nature reserves. History The origins of the RSPB lie with two groups of women, both formed in 1889: * The Plumage League was founded by Emily Williamson at her house in Didsbury, Manchester, as a protest group campaigning against the use of great crested grebe and kittiwake skins and feathers in fur clothing. The house is now in Fletcher Moss Botanical Gard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Journalistic Hoaxes
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journalist, occupation (professional or not), the methods of gathering information, and the organizing literary styles. The appropriate role for journalism varies from country to country, as do perceptions of the profession, and the resulting status. In some nations, the news media are controlled by government and are not independent. In others, news media are independent of the government and operate as private industry. In addition, countries may have differing implementations of laws handling the freedom of speech, freedom of the press as well as slander and Libel, libel cases. The proliferation of the Internet and smartphones has brought significant changes to the media landscape since the turn of the 21st century. This has created a shif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Fictional Birds
This list of fictional birds is subsidiary to the list of fictional animals. Ducks, penguins and birds of prey are not included here, and are listed separately at List of fictional ducks, List of fictional penguins, and List of fictional birds of prey. For non-fictional birds see List of individual birds. Struthioniformes (ostriches) Casuariformes (cassowaries and emu) Apterygiformes (kiwis) Anseriformes (waterfowl) See also ''List of fictional ducks'' and ''List of fictional ducks in animation'' Galliformes (landfowl) Phoenicopteriformes (flamingos) Columbiformes (pigeons and doves) Cuculiformes (cuckoos and roadrunners) Caprimulgiformes (nightjars, hummingbirds, and swifts) Nyctibiidae (potoos) Gruiformes (cranes, rails, and allies) Charadriiformes (gulls, terns, auks, and waders) Gaviiformes (loons) Sphenisciformes (penguins) See ''List of fictional penguins'' Procellariiformes (albatrosses, shearwaters, petrels, and storm-petrels) Ciconiiformes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
