Hello everyone, I just wanted to ask some general questions about birds. They may seem silly so please don't judge me! Here they are:
1. Do all birds have tongues because I am pretty sure that honey eaters do but I am not sure about other birds.
2. Do birds see colour like us or do they see different colours?
3. What are some other night birds? Before I knew much about birds I thought that the only night birds were owls, but now I know that there are others like frogmouths and night-jars.
I always like learning new things about birds. Sometimes I think that I am a over curious person, but I suppose that is a good trait...
Hi cooee, none of your questions is silly !!! There are NO silly questions to be asked in this world!! I can answer question No 1: Yes , birds do have tongues!! Ancient birds even had teath. Their tongues have a bone in them. (if I think about it, but I'm not sure here?, every animal,(and humans) need the tongue to swallow? You will have to ask an expert about this though!)Good luck with the rest of the questions, I'm certain someone will know.
M-L
Just on more, yes, birds do see colour!! They have to, otherwise they wouldn't find their favorite flowers, would they? LoL. And there would be no point in displaying bright colours in male birds as part of the ritual display in the mating season. would there??
M-L
yes birds see colours in fact they see them better than we do they can see colours we can't!
Look up birds eye sight and ultra violet you will be amazed at how they see the world
Good point Araminta about how birds would not be able to see there favourite flowers and male displays without colour vision. Birds have amazing vision. I have thought of another question, sorry :)
How long do birds live for?
Hi cooee, I'm tempted to say, until they get eaten by a cat.That would turn a serious question into a joke. The age varies, little birds like Robins don't live for long, something like 1.5 years. (I read that!).But some birds like Albatrosses live a long life. Just put the question into your Google Search. You will find lots of information about the age of birds. Very interesting question, thanks for asking it!! Keep them coming, we can all learn from them!
M-L
There was a corella that was banded a very long time ago and it was found alive in the wild 70 years later so it can vay lots. i think cockatoos live the longest.
I also have a question:
Why do waders come all the way down to Victoria during the summer when they could just easily stop at Broome and not come any further?
Cheers, Owen.
Owen, that is a very interesting question!! I would like to know the answer, we will have to wait for someone clever to tell us. I hope someone does!!!
M-L
I've pondered this a bit myself, Owen. There's probably some sensible ecological or even evolutionary reason, maybe even something simple like there's not enough food or other resources they need in Broome so they pick the next available place.
Besides the Owl/Frogmouths & Night Jars, Common Koels are quite active at night, and I have seen flocks of Pink Galahs, Corella's and Silver Gulls flying about in large flocks late at night, probably heading somewhere. Oh, and don't forget the little Fairy Penguins, they are very active at night.
You can add to my last posting above Spur Winged Plovers, always hear them screeching as they fly through the darkness.
Thanks for your answers and questions everybody. Very much appreciated.
Hello every one. I have another question, I know!
We say that there are "robins" in Australia (e.g rose robin, scarlet robin) but they are not true robins, I think they are flycatchers. So when we say there are "finches" in Australia (e.g red-browed finches, double-barred finches), are they really true finches or something else?
Thanks everyone.
I think the finches are true finches because they have the same habits and build and also beak shape as the true finches living in europe but our Robins have just been given the name Robin not because they are true Robins but because they resemble true Robins somewhat and can have similar behaviour.
Cheers, Owen.
Your right most Australian finches are not true finches and more closely resemble wax bills.
biologists from Europe named them so they ended up with names that would be familiar to Europeans, you can find a lot of this on sites like Wikipedia,
Taxonomy is a very fickle thing.
The european robins are referred to as "Old World Flycathers" (family: Musscicapidae) as for the robin-flycatcher we have here, they are indeed "Australian Robins" (family Petroicidae). Different families - very similar features!
Taz