Birds of Australia [antikvár]

An Introduction to Birds This guide is an introduction to the major groups of Australian birds with an emphasis on those the amateur naturalist and nature-lover is most likely to see. Birdwatching is a wonderful hobby and can be enjoyed by anyone. Some people spend every minute they can spare at the beach or in a rainforest looking for birds in a desperate effort to see every species, while for others it is merely a casual interest. It is for this latter group that this book is intended, but be warned — that's how I started! Bird Diversity Approximately 800 species of birds are found in Australia: that is just under 10 per cent of all those in the world.These consist of native, migrant and introduced species. Perhaps only a third of Australia's species are considered common or often sighted on a normal birdwatching trip. Others are only found in specific habitat types, in certain geographical areas or are uncommon to rare or endangered. Migratory species can be divided into regular migrants and vagrants.The regular migrants appear in Australia as part of a regular tnp; they travel a set path that can be followed and predicted.Vagrants may only be recorded once or twice in Australia. Since European settlement there have been about 40 introduced species, only about 25 of which have become established.The majority of these were introduced intentionally by humans, while a few birds have managed to introduce themselves. What Makes a Bird a Bird When most people are asked to describe the defining characteristic of a bird they immediately say that they fly but some birds — such as penguins and emus — do not fly Also insects and mammals such as bats fly The next identifying feature they may mention is that birds lay eggs, but so, too, do insects, reptiles and amphibians, fish and some mammals. While both of these characteristics are possessed by some of all of the birds, the only unifying feature is that birds have feathers. The ground-dwelling Plains-wanderer has dull and cryptically patterned plumage.