1. What characteristics do all birds have in common?

2. All birds… Are vertebrates Are endothermic Have feathers
Have a four-chambered heart
Lay eggs

3. The bodies of most (but not all) birds are adapted for flight

4. In order to fly birds need…
1) Hollow bones
to make the bird lightweight

5. In order to fly, birds need…
2) large chest muscles to move their wings

6. In order to fly, birds need…
3) Feathers ---they are the only animals to have feathers

7. Different kinds of feathers:
Contour Feather: one of the large feathers on a bird that gives shape to a bird’s body
Flight Feathers: long contour feathers that extend beyond the body on the wings and tail
Help the bird to balance and steer
Contour feathers in general have a central shaft and projections called barbs
Down Feathers: short, fluffy feathers that are specialized to trap heat and keep the bird warm
Found right next to the bird’s skin at the base of the contour feathers
Are soft and flexible

8. Feathers
Contour Feathers
Down Feathers

9. Feathers

10. Obtaining Food

11. Birds must obtain a lot of food to provide the energy needed for flight

12. Because they need energy for flight and they are endotherms, birds need a lot of food.
Each day, the average bird eats food equal to about a quarter of its body weight
This is why the phrase “You’re eating like a bird” is incorrect….bird eat a lot!

13. What do birds use to capture, grip and handle food?

14. Bills – shaped to help birds feed quickly and efficiently
A bird’s bill is shaped depending on what it eats

15. Example: The pointy, curved bill of a hawk acts like a meat hook to pull off bits of its prey

16. Example: A duck’s bill acts like a kitchen strainer, separating out seeds and tiny animals from muddy pond water

17. Example: Pelicans need a large bill to scoop fish out of the water

18. Birds have special organs to digest food

19. 2 organs that birds have that humans do not are a gizzard and a crop

20. Crop: an internal storage tank for storing food inside the body after swallowing it
A muscular pouch near the throat

21. Gizzard

22. Gizzard: a thick-walled, muscular part of the stomach that squeezes and grinds partially digested food
Birds have one to make up for the fact that they do not have teeth!
The gizzard does the same grinding function for birds that your teeth do for you

23. Keeping conditions stable
Being endotherms, birds need to keep warm
To maintain their body temperature, they use energy from food and feathers to trap heat
Down feathers are specialized to trap heat, as they are found right next to a bird’s skin

24. Birds Reproduction Have internal fertilization Lay amniotic eggs
In most species, a female lays eggs in a nest
Bird eggs will only develop at a temperature close to the body temperature of the parent bird
A parent bird usually incubates the eggs by sitting on them to keep them warm
Parents take care of their babies until they learn how to fly