On average, a mammal has a brain roughly twice as large as that of a bird of the same body size, and ten times as large as that of a reptile of the same body size.

A recent report ( 2006 ) by the NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California, indicates that the increased rat presence on Clipperton Island has led to a decline in both crab and bird populations, causing a corresponding increase in both vegetation and coconut palms on the island.

So far, only a single bird species, which has not been named, has been confidently identified from both above and below the K-Pg boundary ( it is present in the Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation and Danian Fort Union Formation ).

It is because of the scarlet color of cardinals ' vesture that the bird of the same name has become known as such.

Fair Isle has a permanent bird observatory, founded by George Waterston in 1948.

a bird that has a red breast and pinions ".

This has led to an alternative English common name for the bird, " garefowl " or " gairfowl ".

While recent evidence suggesting that American Ivory-billed Woodpeckers may still exist in the wild has caused excitement in the Ornithology community, no similar evidence exists for the Cuban Ivory-billed bird, believed to be extinct since the last sighting in the late 1980s.

The island has three endemic bird species, and two endemic subspecies.

Phosphate — in actuality a resource derived from a 1, 000-year cycle of bird droppings — has been mined on the island since 1906.

An example of the opposite case is " cuckoo ", which, due to continuous familiarity with the bird noise down the centuries, has kept approximately the same pronunciation as in Anglo-Saxon times and its vowels have not changed to as in " furrow ".

Hybridization with the subspecies that evolved southwestwards of its range, S. c. massaicus, has apparently been prevented from occurring on a significant scale by ecological separation, the Somali Ostrich preferring bushland where it browses middle-height vegetation for food while the Masai Ostrich is, like the other subspecies, a grazing bird of the open savanna and miombo habitat.

Rousay is a ' Site of Special Scientific Interest ' with notable cliff formations and wildflower colonies, and has an RSPB bird reserve.

The GEICO company has created a series of television ads that are built around proverbs, such as " A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush ": and " The pen is mightier than the sword "

Conversely, birds of prey-which show distinct reverse sexual dimorphism — tend to be monogamous for long periods or mate for life ; some species like the Snail kite will choose new mates every year, polygyny is noted in many Harriers and polyandry has been observed in the Harris ' Hawk ( notable for being the only bird of prey to regularly live and hunt in family and social groups ) and the aforementioned Galapagos hawk.

Another etymology that has been proposed is English pigeon, a bird sometimes used for carrying brief written messages, especially in times prior to modern telecommunications.

It has declared several bird sanctuaries including Kumana.

The archipelago has fifteen bird sanctuaries, one geotopic protected area and six nature reserves — with Nordaust-Svalbard and Søraust-Svalbard both being larger than any of the national parks.

While wild cats, dogs, feral pigs, black rats, Polynesian rats and mice are present, the island has no known populations of possums, mustelids ( weasels, stoats or ferrets ), hedgehogs, brown rats or deer, thus being a relative haven for native bird and plant populations.

The study of learning became an area of interest and the study of bird song has been a model for studies in neuro-ethology.

The role of hormones and physiology in the control of behaviour has also been aided by bird models.

The use of bird skins to document species has been a standard part of systematic ornithology.

A bird, once it has detected a bird of prey, calls to signal to the bird of prey that it was detected, and that there is no use trying to attack the calling bird.

Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies ; Fleming, a keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist's wife that " It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born ".

The work contains just over 700 North American bird species.

Foro might be allied with the Hoatzin ; it had been touted as a " missing link " between this bird and the Cuculiformes proper but as noted above, it is just impossible to closely ally the Hoatzin with any extant birds.

In the case of the Flintstones ' cuckoo clocks, which varied from mechanical toys to live birds announcing the time, when the hour approached 12: 00, the bird inside the clock " cuckooing " usually just ran out of steam and gave up vocally, physically, or both.

One states that it was eating a bird, another indicates that it was only perched in the cactus, and a third just says it was eating something.

The duration of individual stints varies from just a few days to as much as several weeks, during which the incubating bird can lose a considerable amount of weight.

Several adaptations combine to protect the woodpecker's brain from the substantial pounding that the pecking behaviour causes: it has a relatively thick skull with relatively spongy bone to cushion the brain ; there is very little cerebrospinal fluid in its small subarachnoid space ; the bird contracts mandibular muscles just before impact, thus transmitting the impact past the brain and allowing its whole body to help absorb the shock ; its relatively small brain is less prone to concussion than other animals '.

The White-throated Dipper ( Cinclus cinclus ), also known as the European Dipper or just Dipper is an aquatic passerine bird found in Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.

The word " quetzal " was originally used for just the Resplendent Quetzal, the famous long-tailed quetzal of Central America, which is the national bird and the name of the currency of Guatemala.

The wingspan ( or just span ) of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip.

The English River winds its way just north of Wellman and provides for an abundance of sightseeing, hiking, canoeing and bird watching.

The book, she states, is like a baby bird just going on its own.

The Northern Lapwing ( Vanellus vanellus ), also known as the Peewit, Green Plover or ( in the British Isles ) just Lapwing, is a bird in the plover family.

It is continued at intervals during summer, and occasionally may be heard in August and September, just before the bird departs.

* In the Middle Ages and during the witch-hunts in Europe, the bird was considered to be connected with witchcraft, just like crows, ravens and black cats.

The Common House Martin ( Delichon urbicum ), sometimes called the Northern House Martin or, particularly in Europe, just House Martin, is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family which breeds in Europe, north Africa and temperate Asia ; and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia.

This bird is the most common and most widespread nuthatch, and is often referred to just as the Nuthatch.

The Northern Fulmar ( Fulmarus glacialis ) or just Fulmar lives in the north Atlantic and north Pacific, whereas the Southern Fulmar, ( Fulmarus glacialoides ) is, as its name implies, a bird of the southern oceans.

One Arctic Tern, ringed as a chick ( not yet able to fly ) on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast in eastern Great Britain in summer 1982, reached Melbourne, Australia in October 1982, a sea journey of over 22, 000 km ( 14, 000 statute miles ) in just three months from fledging — an average of over 240 km per day, and one of the longest journeys ever recorded for a bird.

Harrison used the group name Dunnock for all of the species, not just Prunella modularis ( thus e. g. Japanese Dunnock for P. rubida ); this usage is based on the oldest known name for any of the species ( old English dun -, brown, +-ock, small: " little brown bird ").

The Common Starling ( Sturnus vulgaris ), also known as the European Starling or just Starling, is a passerine bird in the family Sturnidae.

and to commands to eat inappropriate things ( e. g., the bird, the snake ) with I think I just lost my appetite.

The Eurasian Oystercatcher ( Haematopus ostralegus ) also known as the Common Pied Oystercatcher, or ( in Europe ) just Oystercatcher, is a wader in the oystercatcher bird family Haematopodidae.

Though formerly mainly just a non-breeding visitor south of Canada in North America, the species has spread to include several colonies in the New England states and now extends as far south as a breeding bird to North Carolina.