Archive for the 'Bird Word' Category

Endemic: a species of bird that is confined to a particular region. The Chestnut-breasted Whiteface is endemic to my home state, South Australia. It is not found anywhere else. It is also our only endemic species.

There are many species endemic to Australia, that is, they are found no-where else in the world. Some of these […]

Colonial: species of birds that roost or nest in communal groups, or colonies, are said to live in colonial groups.

Some species roost alone, some roost in small groups and yet others roost in large groups, or colonies. The same is true of nesting; many […]

Endangered: a species so few in number it is in danger of becoming rare or even extinct.

Unfortunately Australia has a large and growing number of endangered species of birds. There are many reasons for this which I do not wish to go into here. Many of the reasons are political […]

Eclipse Plumage: for some months after breeding some species, for example, some male ducks and male wrens, take on a duller plumage colour before resuming their normal plumage.

The male wren in the photo below is certainly NOT in eclipse plumage. He is in full breeding plumage. I show this photo because I do not yet […]

Ear-coverts: the small feathers that cover the area of the ear, sometimes distinctively coloured.

I don’t seem to have a photo to illustrate this exactly except for the one below of the Zebra Finch. The ear coverts would be approximately where the orange cheek patch appears.
Zebra Finch