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Audubon - Bird glossary Category: Animals and Nature > Birds and Habitat Date & country: 27/09/2013, USA Words: 217

Kite
In bird flight, to hang in one position while facing into the wind with minimal or no flapping.

Kleptoparasite
Bird that forages by stealing food from other birds (such as Parasitic Jaeger).

Labrador Current
Ocean current that flows southward between Canada and Greenland, extending down the U.S. East Coast to North Carolina, where its flow deflects the Gulf Stream eastward.

Lagoon
Sheltered, shallow body of water separated from deeper, more open water.

Lek
Site where males of some species (such as prairie-chickens) gather to perform group courtship displays for females; the term can also refer to the group of displaying males.

Leucism
Condition of plumage resulting from reduced pigment in feathers; leucistic birds vary from having a few stray whitish feathers to being nearly all white with just a trace of normal pigmentation (the latter resembling albino birds but with normally pigmented eyes).

Lift
Upward force exerted on a wing due to air flow across its surface.

Lore
Area between the eye and the base of the bill; some species have distinctively colored lores (such as White-throated Sparrow).

Lowland
Area of level land that is lower in elevation than surrounding land.

Mangrove forest
Or mangrove swamp; low, dense woodland of tropical evergreen trees or shrubs that grow in coastal tropical and subtropical areas (of southern Florida and Texas in the scope of this guide); these plants, which grow in salt water, have stiltlike roots and stems and are important roosting and nesting sites for birds.

Mantle
In this guide, feathers of the upper back, not including the scapulars; in other publications, the term may also be used to include the scapulars and all visible upperwing coverts of the folded wing.

Mask
Informal term for an area of dark plumage extending from the base of the bill through and beyond the eyes (as in Loggerhead Shrike).

Mast
The nuts of forest trees accumulated on the ground.

Melanism
In birds, a condition involving unusual dark pigmentation in the plumage.

Mesquite
Small, spiny trees or shrubs (genus Prosopis) that grow in hot, dry climates.

Mimid
A bird of the family Mimidae.

Mirror
In gulls' remiges, an area of white plumage near the feather tip that is surrounded by dark plumage.

Molt
The process of shedding old feathers and replacing them with new feathers, whether all or part of the plumage; most species have regular, predictable molts.

Monogamy
The condition of having only one mate during a breeding season or during the breeding life of a pair.

Montane
Of or found in mountainous environments.

Motte
Copse or small stand of trees on a prairie, such as the oak mottes found on the coastal prairie of eastern Texas.

Moustachial crescent
Distinct area of dark plumage forming a curve along the lower border of the auriculars above the malar and somewhat resembling a mustache (as in Prairie Warbler).

Mudflat
Area of mud along rivers, lakes, or other water bodies usually exposed by receding tides or by drought; often important habitat for foraging shorebirds and waterbirds.

Muskeg
Habitat characterized by an acidic, very moist soil type common in Arctic and boreal areas that is made up of dead plants in various states of decomposition and often includes sphagnum moss and sedge peat; often found along the uneven interface of taiga and tundra, where there are few and stunted trees.

Nail
Distinct horny plate at the end of the maxilla or mandible, most pronounced and obvious in larger tubenoses (in the order Procellariiformes).

Nape
The back of the head, including the hindneck, just below the hindcrown.

Nearshore waters
Ocean waters between the low-tide point and a depth of about a hundred fathoms (200m).

Nest box
Box with an entrance hole set out specifically for cavity-nesting birds, such as wrens, woodpeckers, owls, and parids.

Nonpasserine
Any bird that is not in the order Passeriformes (passerines).

Northern tier
In the lower 48 United States, the states that border Canada.

Oak scrub
Open, fairly dry habitat consisting of shrubby, thicket-forming oaks.

Old-growth forest
Mature woodland ecosystem characterized by the presence of old woody plants, especially old trees, and the wildlife and smaller plants associated with them.

Open woodland
Woodland community characterized by widely spaced trees or an open, broken canopy (such as a pine savanna).

Orbital ring
Ring of often brightly colored bare skin encircling the eye (as in Black-billed Cuckoo).

Ornithologist
Scientist who studies birds.

Pacific Slope
The part of western North America that drains to the Pacific Ocean.

Pack ice
Floating sea ice that has been driven together into a mass.

Parid
A bird of the family Paridae.

Peep
Small shorebird of the genus Calidris, usually applied only to Least, Semipalmated, Western, Baird's, and White-rumped Sandpipers and not to larger Calidris.

Permanent resident
Nonmigratory species found year-round in a given area; sometimes refers to a species that makes short-distance (and/or facultative) movements, replacing local birds with birds of the same species from other areas in the nonbreeding months.

Phenotype
Observable physical properties of an organism.

Phylogenetic
Based on evolutionary history; used in the context of evolutionary relationships among taxa.

Pine barren
Area of infertile land that is dominated by pines and has limited understory vegetation (found in eastern North America).

Pinyon-juniper woodland
Habitat found on the lower slopes of mountains, consisting of short evergreen trees

Pishing
Giving vocal imitations of parid calls (that sound a bit like steam escaping in quick bursts) to attract woodland birds.

Plunge-dive
To dive on aquatic prey from the air.

Pocosin
Freshwater bay swamp (bays are broadleaf evergreen trees of various families) in the Atlantic Coastal Plain.

Polyandry
The condition of a female having more than one mate in a breeding cycle.

Polygyny
The condition of a male having more than one mate in a breeding cycle.

Polynya
Area of open water surrounded by sea ice.

Prairie
Extensive area of flat or rolling, mostly treeless grassland, especially the large tract or plain of central North America known as the Great Plains.

Prairie pothole
Depressional lake or pond formed by a stranded block of glacier and dependent for its water on rain or snow; these lakes are scattered through the northern Great Plains and into Canada and are important nesting areas as well as stopover sites for migrating waterfowl.

Primaries
The outermost and longest remiges, usually numbering between 9 and 12, that with their coverts form the outer portion of the wing.

Primary projection
The length of the primaries that projects past the tertials when the wing is folded (of particular use in the identification of certain passerines).

Primary shaft
The stiff central axis of the primary feather, sometimes distinctly visible in flying birds if the feather color is contrastingly dark (as in jaegers).

Range
Geographic area typically occupied by a species.

Raptor
Bird of prey, usually referring to a falcon, hawk, or owl.

Rectrices
(singular: rectrix)Tail feathers, not including the tail coverts.

Recurved
Curved upward (as in the bill of American Avocet).

Remiges
Flight feathers, including the primaries and secondaries but not their coverts.

Resaca
In southern Texas, a local name for an oxbow lake (formed when a meander of a river is cut off to form a crescent-shaped lake) of the Rio Grande.

Resident
Usually nonmigratory and present throughout the year.

Rictal bristles
Hairlike feathers that project from the gape area and are thought to aid in the capture of aerial insects by trapping them or serving a tactile function.

Riparian
Along the banks of a flowing natural watercourse such as a river; a riparian forest is found along a stream or river and does not extend far from the banks.

Rump
Lower back above the uppertail coverts and below the mantle.

Sage scrub
Arid, mostly treeless habitat of the American West that is dominated by sage (Salvia, Artemisia, and other genera) and other low-growing plants; coastal sage scrub, found mostly in southern California, is a particular habitat that features species of sage and various shrubs, cacti, and grasses adapted to the semiarid climate of that region.

Saltpan
Shallow basin in a desert region containing salt and gypsum deposited by an evaporated salt lake; also a flat area of dry or drying salt water that opens or once opened onto tidal water.

Savanna
Ecosystem characterized by widely spaced overstory trees (often pines) and open expanses in the understory, which is usually grassy or herbaceous in patches; in this book, mostly refers to habitats of the southeastern United States involving loblolly and longleaf pines.

Scansorial
Adapted to or specialized for locomotion by climbing, especially on tree trunks.

Scapulars
Group of feathers that lies along the margins of the mantle or back and also overlaps the folded wing.

Scree
Loose rock debris covering a slope.

Scrub oak
Informal term applied to several species of thicket-forming shrubby oaks.

Second-growth woodland
Trees that grow to cover an area after the original stand has been removed.

Secondaries
The remiges of the inner part of the wing.

Semi-precocial
Referring to chicks that hatch open-eyed, covered with down, and capable of leaving the nest soon, but which stay at the nest and are fed by parents (as in tern and gull chicks).

Shortgrass prairie
Arid habitat of the western Great Plains, just east of the Rocky Mountains, characterized by sparse, low vegetation, little rainfall, and periods of severe drought.

Shrub-steppe
Habitat, found from eastern Washington and Oregon to western Wyoming and Colorado, characterized by grasses and shrubs, including big sagebrush, rabbitbrush, greasewood, bitterbrush, buckwheat, and hopsage.

Sinkhole
Natural depression that connects with a subterranean passage, generally occurring in limestone regions.

Spatulate
Shaped like a spoon or a spatula.

Speciation
The process through which new species evolve from those in existence.

Spectacles
Informal term for a combination of contrastingly pigmented lores and eye rings, which resemble eyeglass frames (as in Plumbeous Vireo).

Speculum
Distinctively pigmented area on the upper surface of the secondaries, particularly in dabbling ducks (such as American Black Duck).

Sphagnum moss
Any of several mosses of the genus Sphagnum that grow in wet, acidic areas and whose decomposed remains form peat.

Staging area
Place where large numbers of birds traditionally gather en route to breeding or sometimes wintering areas, where they feed and/or roost before continuing onward.

Stoop
Characteristic aerial plunge of some falcons onto prey below.

Subadult
A bird that has not yet acquired definitive adult plumage but no longer has juvenal plumage.

Subarctic
Area just below the Arctic Circle characterized by acidic soils and taiga forest vegetation.

Submalar mark
Or submalar stripe; mark or line of contrastingly dark plumage between the malar and the throat feathers.

Suboscines
Birds in the order Passeriformes other than those in the suborder Passeri (oscines); in North America (north of Mexico), flycatchers (suborder Tyranni) are the only representatives of the suboscines.

Subterminal band
The next-to-last tail band, adjacent to the terminal band.

Subtropical
Relating to areas adjacent to the tropics where summers are hot but winters are nontropical (southernmost Florida and southernmost Texas are the only subtropical regions in the United States).

Succession
The gradual development of an ecosystem caused by changes in community composition.

Supercilium
Area between the lower edge of the crown and the eye line, often contrasting in color with both.

Swamp woods
Type of freshwater wetland, often found along the floodplains of large rivers, that is filled with water most or all of the year.

Tailband
Contrastingly pigmented area of the tail, perpendicular to the axis of the tail.

Tallgrass prairie
Grassland ecosystem of tall grasses (such as big bluestem, little bluestem, indiangrass, and switchgrass), once extending for tens of millions of acres from the Dakotas to Texas and east through Illinois, but now found only in tiny remnants.

Talon
Claw of a bird of prey.

Tamaulipan brushlands
Ecosystem of the lower Rio Grande valley delta of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico (state of Tamaulipas), characterized by dense, thorny vegetation, mostly stunted trees and spiny shrubs.

Terminal band
Outermost tail band, at the tail's tip.

Territoriality
Behavior pattern in birds concerned with the occupation and defense of a territory, often characterized by intensive singing and clashes with rivals.