Copy of `Audubon - Bird glossary`

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

Territory
Area occupied by a single bird, mated pair, or group and often vigorously defended against intruders, especially those of the same species.

Tertials
Innermost secondaries (normally 3) that often have a different shape than other secondaries and are sometimes molted on a different schedule.

Thorn scrub
Dry habitat characterized by low-growing thorny vegetation.

Thorn woods
Any habitat where thorny trees dominate, usually in arid regions.

Throat
Area of the underparts bounded by the malars and the breast.

Tideline
Area where two different water masses or currents meet, often concentrating nutrients, prey items, and flotsam.

Tomial notch
Toothlike serration in the edge of the maxilla, as seen in shrikes and vireos.

Tremolo
Rapid repetition of a single tone with a tremulous quality, similar to vibrato in human singing.

Tropics
The region of earth centered on the equator and lying between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer.

Tundra
In North America, the area north of the tree line in Canada and Alaska vegetated with low shrubs, dwarf heath shrubs, cottongrass communities, and various wetlands.

Ulnar bar
Area of dark plumage in the underwing coverts that extends from the humerals to the carpal joint, as seen in many gadfly petrel species.

Vagrant
Bird found outside its normal range, especially one quite far out of range.

Vent
Opening through which waste and reproductive products pass in birds; also the plumage located around this area between the legs.

Ventral
In birds, relating to the lower surface of the body from chin to undertail coverts.

Wetland
Low-lying area, such as a marsh or swamp, that is saturated with moisture for at least some period of time during a year or cycle.

Wing bar
Line of contrastingly pigmented (usually pale) plumage formed by the tips of the upperwing coverts, usually the median and/or greater coverts; many species of birds have two wing bars per wing.

Wing-loading
The weight of a bird divided by its wing area.