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Lee Ouzman - Wildlife photography terms Category: Animals and Nature > Wildlife Photography Date & country: 27/09/2013, USA Words: 570

Hackles
Long and pointed neck feathers that can extend across mantle and wing-coverts.

Hallux
Hind toe (first digit on foot), usually directed backwards, sometimes reduced (e.g. coucals) or absent (e.g. Ostrich and bustards).

Hand
The outer part of the wing, from the carpal joint to the tip of the wing.

Harem polygyny
Breeding system in which single male has harem of breeding females.

Gular region
The area between the chin and the foreneck.

Gular skin
Bare skin that surrounds the throat in some birds.

Gular stripe
A usually very narrow (and often dark) stripe running down the centre of the throat.

Habitat
The environment where a particular species of bird lives. Forests and wetlands are both examples of habitats.

Grit
Small pieces of rock, shell, or other hard substances that birds eat to help them digest other foods. Grit helps grind up coarse vegetable matter.

Gular
Of the throat. A gular pouch is distensible skin in the central area of the throat.

Gular fluttering
Rapid fluttering of thin skin of floor of mouth and upper throat; used to reduce heat load by evaporative cooling.

Gular pouch
A loose and pronounced area of skin extending from the throat (e.g. on pelicans or hornbills).

Graduated
Decreasing stepwise from long to short, usually used to describe tail shape, e.g. Fork-tailed Drongo.

Graduated tail
A tail in which the longest feathers are the central pair and the shortest the outermost, with those in between intermediate in length.

Granivorous
Eating grain or seeds.

Greater secondary coverts
The feathers overlying the bases of the secondaries. In some birds, the primary converts are completely covered by them.

Glide
A flight pattern where a bird flies with its wings outstretched but slightly tucked. Birds of prey often glide in between thermals.

Gonydeal angle
Cusp on the outer portion of the mandible along the gonys; prominent on some birds, such as gulls.

Gonys
Ridge formed by junction of two rami of lower jaw (near bill tip). The lower most ridge on the lower mandible.

Gorget
Throat band or broad necklace, e.g. as found in Bar-throated Apalis or Bokmakierie. A small iridescent patch on the throat of a hummingbird.

Glean
To pick small food items singly, usually with delicate movements; warblers glean insects from leaves or needle clusters.

Gizzard
Muscular hind part of a bird's stomach, used for grinding food.

Geophagy
The practice of eating earth.

Genus (pl. genera)
A taxonomic category between family and species, i.e. a group of closely related species.

Gens (pl gentes)
(of brood parasites with multiple hosts) Group of birds all of whom parasitise the

Gape tubercle (or flange)
Colourful outline to gape of chick, presumably to guide adult when feeding

Furcular sac
Pouch of skin lying just in front of the sternum that can be inflated to produce sounds in a few species.

Fynbos
A distinctive habitat in the winter

Gape
The fleshy base of the beak, which is often cream, yellow or orange in young birds. Also called commissure, it is the hinge where the mandibles meet.

Frontal shield
The area where the bill extends onto the forehead of the bird. It is often brightly coloured and is meant to grab the attention of other birds.

Frontlet
Small area of distinctly delineated plumage near the foremost portion of the forehead.

Frugivorous
Birds that feed primarily on fruit. Cedar Waxwings are frugivorous birds.

Frons
The forehead or feathered front of the crown, immediately above the base of the upper bill.

Forehead
Part of the face above the eyes.

Foreneck
Also called the jugulum or throat patch, it is located on the front of the neck.

Fringes
Complete feather margins, which can frequently result in a scaly appearance to body feathers or wing-coverts.

Forecrown
Foremost part of the crown; a smaller area than the forehead.

Food pass
Aerial food presentation by raptor, from male to female.

Foot-trembling
Rapid vibration of toes against or in substratum (to disturb or attract prey).

Food larder
Site where birds store food (e.g. shrikes storing insects on thorns or barbed-wire fences).

Flight feathers
Located on the wing, and collectively called remiges (singular, remex). The long stiff feathers are subdivided into two major groups based on the location and are called primaries and secondaries.

Floater
Itinerant non-breeding birds.

Flock
A group of birds made up of either the same or different species.

Floodplain
The area inundated when a river is in flood. These areas tend to become progressively wider the closer the river gets to the sea.

Food chain/Food web
The interrelationships among animals and plants concerning the transfer of energy (food). Birds are part of the food chain because they feed on plants and animals and are fed upon by other animals (sometimes other birds).

Flight call
Call used chiefly by flying birds, thought to function as a contact call among members of the same species, especially during nocturnal migration.

Filoplume
A thin, hair-like feather.

Flank
The lateral area posterior to the side of the bird

Flank stripe
Contrasting coloured stripes on the flanks.

Fledge
To grow a first set of contour feathers (as opposed to a coat of downy feathers), or juvenal plumage.

Fledgling
Bird that has fledged (acquired juvenal plumage) and left the nest; most birds begin to become independent of their parents at this time (compare

Field Mark
A characteristic or combination of characteristics such as colour, shape, or specific marking (eye rings, wing bars, breast stripes), by which a species of bird can be distinguished from other species Camouflage

Feral
Describes a species that has escaped from captivity and now exists as a self-sustaining 'wild' population (e.g. Rose-ringed Parakeet).

Facial discs
Rounded, earlike areas on the face; ears.

Facultative movements
In birds, movements made in response to pressures or stresses in the immediate environment, such as food crop failures, drought, cold, or snow cover (compare

Feet
The feet are located at the terminal part of the legs, and most birds have four toes. The first toe points backwards while the other three toes point forward. The second, third and fourth digits or toes are counted from the inside of the foot out and have 2, 3 and 4 phalanges respectively. Most birds do not have a fifth toe except for some where it has evolved into a defensive spur, such as in the chicken.

Eyebrow
Also called the supercilicum or superciliary it is the arch of feathers over each eye.

Eye-comb
Thick, fleshy growth above the eye in certain galliforms; most noticeable when males are displaying or agitated but also seen in females of many species.

Eyelid
Birds have one upper and one lower eyelid - the latter being more moveable. Birds also have a nictitating membrane between both eyelids and the cornea. It has its own lubricating duct equivalent to the human tear duct to clean and protect the eye.

Face
The front part of the head consisting of the bill, eyes, cheeks and chin.

Eye ring
Area of contrasting plumage encircling the eye (compare

Eye ring
The circle around the eye formed of feathers that are a different colour from the rest of the face.

Eye patch
Area of dark plumage around the eye.

Eye line
Line formed by dark plumage that extends through or behind the eye; also called an

Eye crescent
Narrow area of contrasting plumage above and/or below the eye, of almost even thickness.

Eye line
The line of feathers just in front of and behind the eyes. It extends back from the posterior angle of the eye. This can be a useful trait used in identification in the field since it is very noticeable.

Eye arc
Area of pale, arc-shaped plumage above and/or below the eye; thicker than

Eye
The eye is the organ of sight. The bird's eyes are larger compared to the bird's skull and are, therefore, proportionally larger than human eyes. Since the skull is lighter compared to the human skull (adjusted for size), the eyes take up about 15% of the weight.

Extralimital
Beyond the borders of the geographical area under review (eg. in a book).

Estuary
Passage of the lower course of a river where its current meets the tides and the water is brackish.

Etymology
The study of the origins and history of words or names and how they evolved.

Eutrophic
Rich in nutrients, usually applied to (polluted) wetlands.

Exotic
Introduced from another part of the world (i.e. not indigenous). The word 'alien' or 'alien invasive' a better term and more commonly used now.

Escarpment
The steep face of a tilted plateau. In southern Africa usually refers to the eastern escarpment, which forms the edge of the inland plateau or highveld.

Erythrism
Chestnut-red replaces black or brown plumage pigments.

Ephemeral
Refers to wetlands that remain dry for long periods, only filling during periods of high rainfall, e.g. Nylsvley wetland, Limpopo Province.

Emarginated
Pertaining to a primary feather that is notched or abruptly narrowed, usually near the tip.

Endemic
Species whose normal breeding and non-breeding ranges are contained entirely within southern Africa.

Eclipse plumage
Short-lived, drab non-breeding plumage acquired by some if sunbirds and ducks.

Edge Effect
The tendency of birds and other animals to be more numerous at the boundaries of ecological types than in the interior.

Edgings or edges
Outer feather margins, which can frequently result in distinct paler or darker panels of colour on wings or tail.

Egg-dumping
Laying of egg(s) in nest of conspecific or other species.

Dorsum
Back.

Double-brooded
Lays second clutch in one breeding season after rearing first brood successfully.

Dread
Erratic mass flight (e.g. of sandpipers).

Ear patch
Consists of soft, loose-webbed feathers on the side of the bird's head below and behind the eyes.

Ears
The rounded areas on the bird

Eccentrical
(of moult) Erratic, in no fixed sequence.

Dorsoventral
From top to bottom, i.e. from back to belly.

Donga
Erosion gully, usually with vertical sides.

Dorsal
Pertaining to the upperside of the body; in birds, refers especially to the tail, back, and wings.

Dominance hierarchy
Order of dominance among individuals or species in a group.

Distal
Away from the body (e.g. wing tip is distal to carpal joint) (see Proximal).

Distribution
The geographic area(s) where a given species of bird can be found.

Diurnal
Used to describe birds that are active during the day. Most birds are diurnal.

Dominance
The ability of one bird to control the actions of another.

Display
Innate, stylized activity or signal through which birds communicate.

Disruptive
(of coloration) Patterned to break up outline to enhance camouflage (e.g. stripes in downy plumage of precocial young).

Dimorphism
The occurrence of two distinct types of morphology within a taxon, e.g. in size, shape, plumage colour and/or patterns, e.g. between the sexes of the same species ('sexual dimorphism').

Discontinuous
Geographically separate (in reference to distribution).