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

Disjunct
Geographically widely separated (in reference to distribution).

Dispersal
Movement of young bird away from its birthplace.

Displacement activity
Behaviour performed out of context, usually in response to stress.

Desmognathous
Palate in which maxillopalatine bones are fused, as in ducks and geese.

Diagnostic
An identification character, or suite of characters, unique to a taxon and hence of great value in confirming identification.

Diffuse
Dispersed or spread widely, referred to here in the context of feather streaking.

Dihedral
When a bird in flight holds its wings such that they appear to form a

Dimorphic
With two distinct forms or colour morphs.

Culminicorn
In albatrosses and some tubenose allies, a distinct bill plate that lies along the culmen up to the nail.

Dambo
Seasonal, grassy wetlands that are found along drainage lines in woodland such as Brachystegia. Term usually applied only in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and further north in Africa. (See Vlei).

Decurved
Curved downwards (e.g. bill of sunbird or ibis).

Dentate
Toothed or serrated.

Descendent
(of flight feather moult) From the inside of a feather tract outwards (e.g. P1 to P10).

Crissum
The feathers in a triangular area on the underside of a bird between its vent and the base of its tail feathers.

Crop
A sac inside a bird where its neck meets the body. It holds food before digestion.

Crown
The crown is the top part of the birds head.

Cryptic
Secretive in habits and/or having protective colouring or camouflage, e.g. plumage of larks matching the substrate.

Culmen
The ridge along the top of the bill from tip to base of feathers at forehead.

Covey
Group of game birds, especially smaller species such as quail.

Cowl
Informal term for a distinctly pigmented area of plumage that appears to drape from the upperparts to the sides of the breast.

Cr
Group of precocial young birds of the same age from multiple nests in a colony; pelicans, terns, cormorants, and eiders of some species

Crepuscular
Active at dawn and dusk, i.e. in twilight.

Crest
Group of crown feathers that show a peak or elongation; adults of some species are always obviously crested, while others may raise a small crest only when alarmed.

Conspecific
Member of the same species.

Contour feathers
Outer feathers forming external outline of bird (including flight feathers).

Cooperative breeding
Breeding system in which breeding pair is assisted (in nest-building and/or incubation and/or chick-rearing) by one or more 'helpers', often related to breeding pair.

Cosmopolitan
Having a nearly worldwide distribution.

Coverts
Smaller feathers covering the bases of larger wing and tail feathers (remiges and rectrices), both above and below, as well as the ear opening.

Congener
Species grouped in the same genus.

Comb
Only found in male birds and consists of a coloured area over the eye. A well developed comb can also signal (sexual) health to a potential mate.

Commensal
Living together with another animal or plant from which benefit (e.g. food, protection) is derived.

Commissure
Base of the bill where the mandibles join; gape, rictus.

Collar
Similar to the upper part of the human neck, located at the back of the crown. A well-defined band of colour that encircles or partly encircles the neck.

Colony
In birds, usually a group of the same species nesting together in close proximity; some birds, especially terns, herons, and egrets, nest in colonies comprised of several species, and some birds nest in widely scattered colonies.

Colour morph
Different plumage colour and pattern, usually without intermediates, within a single interbreeding population, unrelated to season, sex or age (and less correctly also known as 'colour phase'), e.g. Mountain Wheatear and Olive Bush Shrike.

Clinal
Showing gradual change in a character from one end of a species

Cline
Gradual geographic change in size or colour or other biological attributes.

Cloaca
Birds do not have two separate cavities for excrement and reproduction like humans do. In birds, there is one entrance/exit that suits both functions. It is also called anus or vent.

Cloacal kiss
This term is analogous to sexual intercourse in humans. It is used to describe copulation between birds.

Cock's nest
Open, nest-like structure added to ball-shaped nest (e.g. to roof of waxbill nest); function may be to decoy predators from true nest or to provide male with roost site.

Cere
Bare wax-like or fleshy structure at the base of the bill; found in raptors, doves and parrots; (See Operculum).

Cheek
Located between the lore, eye, auricular and the lower mandible.

Chest
Also called the breast area, it is the frontal area on the body containing the breastplate and major flight muscles.

Chin
The area of the face just below the bill. Informal term for the uppermost part of a bird

Carpal joint
The joint found between the 'arm' (ulna/radius) and the 'hand' (carpometacarpus) of the wing.

Carpal patch
A well-defined patch of colour on the underwing in the vicinity of the carpal joint.

Caruncle
Fleshy growth on head.

Casque
Horny ridge on upper mandible of horn bills.

Centrifugal
(of tail moult) From the centre outwards.

Centripetal
(of tail moult) From outside inwards.

Carnivorous
Flesh-eating birds (usually fresh or live as opposed to carrion). Raptors (hawks and owls) are carnivorous birds.

Bushveld
An informal, general habitat description referring to areas with mixed trees of moderate height (5 - 10 m), where the trees frequently touch each other below canopy height; sometimes in dense thickets and usually with a grassy groundcover.

Cainism
Process in which older (first-hatched) chick kills younger sibling (see Siblicide).

Call
A usually brief vocalization birds use for contact, alarm, or warning or to solicit feeding, copulation, or gathering.

Cap
A well-defined patch of colour or bare skin on the top of the head.

Brood patch
An area on the belly where feathers are shed at the onset of breeding, forming a bare, featherless patch, which is well supplied with blood vessels and used to cover the eggs during incubation.

Brood reduction
Process (several mechanisms) whereby number of eggs/chicks is reduced, producing fewer, but healthier offspring.

Brow line
Line extending from the eye to the base of the maxilla.

Brood parasite
Bird that lays its eggs in the nest(s) of other (foster or host) species (e.g. honeyguides, cuckoos, indigobirds, whydahs).

Brood parasite
A species that lays its eggs in the nests of other species, which then incubate the eggs and raise the young; the southern African obligate brood parasites are the honeyguides, cuckoos, indigobirds, whydahs and Cuckoo Finch, although some level of facultative interspecific brood parasitism also occurs in some other groups, e.g. waterfowl in the genus Oxyura to which the Maccoa Duck belongs, and intraspecific brood parasitism can also be common, e.g. in colonially nesting weavers.

Breast spot
The breast spot is a small area of contrasting colour on the breast.

Breeding endemic
Species that breeds only in southern Africa, but migrates (at least partially) outside the region in non-breeding season.

Breast band
A contrasting band across the breast.

Breast
Section of a bird

Biotope
A particular area which is substantially uniform in its environmental conditions and its flora and fauna.

Bolus
Soft ball of processed food.

Brachystegia woodland
A broadleaved deciduous woodland type, dominated by leguminous Brachystegia trees (belonging to the Pea family); also known as miombo woodland. In the subcontinent mainly found in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Bracken
The robust fern Pteridium aquilinum that forms dense thickets in montane grassland and forest margins.

Brackish
Characterized by a mixture of salt and fresh water, as found in tidal areas such as bays, lagoons, and marshes.

Binocular vision
Having eyes facing the front of the head so the animal can focus both eyes on an object. Most predators have this type of vision. It helps them be more accurate hunters.