Ornithology
Lab 1 - External Morphology & Topography of Birds

Be able to identify the following:
 

THE HEAD
 forehead 
 crown 
 nape
 superciliary line (or supercilium)
 cere (what is the cere & which birds have one?)
 external nares 
 eye ring 
 lore
 iris (sometimes change in color with age)
 nictitating membrane (see short video below)
 auricular region 
   auriculars (ear coverts)
 external acoustic meatus (see skull below)
 malar region (or mustache feathers)
 chin
 throat
 
 

THE BILL  (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beak for details)
 upper mandible 
 lower mandible 
 tomia (the cutting edges of the two mandibles)

Drawings of a House Finch eating a seed


 commissure (the full-length apposition of the closed mandibles)
 culmen
 gonys
 nail (what is a nail & which birds have one?)
 egg tooth (see the egg tooth of a Western Gull chick)

Photo of the head of a Pigeon Guillimot showing the culmen
Pigeon Guillemot - culmen
(Source: Wikipedia)
 


 

THE TRUNK
  mantle
  back
  rump
  breast
  abdomen (belly)
  sides (or flanks)
 

THE WINGS
   wrist (see image below)
   forearm (antebrachium)
   elbow
   upper arm (brachium)
   remiges
        primary remiges
        secondary remiges
   coverts
        greater
        median
        lesser
   alula
   scapulars
   axillars
  wing bars

Photo of a warbler showing wing bars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-winged_warbler#/media/File:Lawrance's_Warbler.jpg

THE LEGS & FEET
   thigh
   knee
   lower leg (crus)
   heel
   foot
       tarsus
       toes (phalanges)
       hallux
       claw

THE TAIL
   rectrices
   uppertail coverts
   crissum (undertail coverts)

 

 



Photo illustrating different parts of a bird bill
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Keel-billed_toucan_woodland.jpg &
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keel-billed_toucan#/media/File:Keel-billed_Toucan_(16201157519).jpg

Photo of a vulture's head
Photo source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Eagle_beak_sideview_A.jpg

Photo of an owl's wing plus a drawing of the wing bones showing points of feather attachment
Barn Owl wing. *The fifth secondary remex is missing, leaving a gap called the diastema (C). Source: Bachmann (2010).

 


Nictitating membrane
 

Literature cited:

Bachmann, T. W. 2010. Anatomical, morphometrical and biomechanical studies of Barn Owls' and pigeons' wings. Ph. D. dissertation, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.

Topography quizzes:

Upperparts

Upperparts

More upperparts and wing

Upperside

Wings 2

Wings 3

Useful links:

External anatomy of a bird

Birdform - Topography

Bird Topography - The Head

Bird topography

All About Birds - Field Marks

Back to BIO 554/754 syllabus