#which is a genus of parrot

[pyrriax]

me & my love for random guys and odd designs

(aka: i saw cogmented's parrot design and decided i wanted to take a crack at it but with some personal flair. also headcanon things... i havent finished coloring this [+ its just a cleaned up sketch] so its not going on the art blog)

[psittacined]

Every time I see Rhu I think of my friends parrot Darby who is a Jardine because they're in the same genus and shaped so similar. 😭 Color is just a bit different in certain places but those orange bits are the same.

Ah yes, yes... The blockhead sisters.

[identifying-parrots]

Eclectus – Eclectus, unknown species, female

Self sabotage

[vestaignis]

Кеа - горный попугай, который по умственным способностям превосходит обезьян.⁠⁠

Попугай Кеа (лат. Nestor notabilis)относится к роду Nestor семейству Strigopidae, однако он значительно отличается от других его представителей. По внешнему виду этот пернатый больше похож на ворона или сокола. Длина тела птицы достигает 46 см, а вес варьируется в пределах 0,6-1 кг, при этом самцы крупнее самок. Размах крыльев в полете достигает 1 м.В окрасе попугаев кеа преобладает оливково-зеленый цвет с серым отливом. А перья окантованы черным цветом, что создает впечатление чешуйчатости. Область под крыльями у кеа огненно-оранжевая, поэтому во время полета птицы кажется, что она охвачена пламенем. Голова бронзово-зеленая. Глаза у этих попугаев темно-коричневого оттенка с тонким глазным кольцом желтого цвета. Когти и клюв имеют более темный оттенок. А нижняя сторона тела коричневато-оливковая. Лапы у этих попугаев крепкие, мощные, серые. Они помогают пернатому держаться на любой поверхности и обеспечивают быстрое передвижение на ней. Клюв с удлиненной выгнутой верхней частью, что обеспечивает глубокое зацепление. Из-за его необычного строения кеа еще называют соколиным попугаем. У самки клюв меньшего размера, менее изогнут и значительно короче, чем у самца.

Попугаи кеа обитают сугубо в Новой Зеландии. Их можно встретить в лесах и долинах гор Южного острова на высоте от 600 до 2000 метров. Летом попугаи кеа обитают в кустарниках и альпийской тундре. Осенью перемещаются в более высокие районы, богатые ягодами. А зимой этих птиц можно встретить возле домиков туристов, горнолыжных курортов, кемпингов. Они настолько смогли приспособиться к суровым условиям, что с удовольствием купаются в лужах с ледяной водой, кувыркаются в снегу.

Кеа хоть и питается растениями, плодами и семенами, но при случае не отказывают себе и в животной пище. Это могут быть не только насекомые, мелкие грызуны, но и падаль. По свидетельству фермеров, кеа могут даже напасть на живых овец и довести их смерти, выклевывая подкожный жир у них на спине. Но такое происходит не так так часто и в основном в зимнее голодное время, когда птицам приходится выживать в весьма суровом горном климате.

Кеа не чураются общения с человеком. Они охотно вселяются поближе к человеческим жилищам и могут питаться пищевыми отходами, как бродячие собаки и кошки. Только, в отличие от них, кеа прекрасно могут вскрыть жестяные и пластиковые банки, мусорные баки и прочее. Мало того, они таким образом могут изуродовать автомобили, выдирая из них разные детали.Везде, где кеа обитают, стоят плакаты, призывающие не кормить попугаев. Но люди всё равно их кормят, превращая дикую птицу в попрошайку.Кеа могут нападать на группы туристов с целью найти и отнять что-то съестное. Рюкзаки, сумочки, зонтики, кошельки и другие подобные вещи – все интересует попугаев своей новизной и необычностью. В горах, недалеко от их местообитания, периодически находят «заначки» – спрятанные и различным образом отсортированные предметы.

Попугаи Кеа давно известны орнитологам своим уникальным умом. Птица легко обучается, с легкостью решает логические задачи, различает цвета и обладает отличной памятью. Обезьяны не смогли пройти все те испытания, которые с легкостью преодолели кеа. Также кеа способны обучаться, просто наблюдая за сородичем. Они хорошо работают как самостоятельно, так и в команде.

Kea is a mountain parrot that surpasses monkeys in intelligence.⁠⁠

The Kea parrot (lat. Nestor notabilis) belongs to the genus Nestor of the family Strigopidae, but it differs significantly from its other representatives. In appearance, this bird is more like a raven or a falcon. The body length of the bird reaches 46 cm, and the weight varies between 0.6-1 kg, with males larger than females. The wingspan in flight reaches 1 m. The color of kea parrots is predominantly olive-green with a gray tint. And the feathers are edged with black, which creates the impression of scaly. The area under the wings of the kea is fiery orange, so during the flight the bird seems to be engulfed in flames. The head is bronze-green. The eyes of these parrots are dark brown with a thin eye ring of yellow color. The claws and beak have a darker shade. And the underside of the body is brownish-olive. The paws of these parrots are strong, powerful, gray. They help the bird to stay on any surface and ensure fast movement on it. The beak has an elongated curved upper part, which provides a deep grip. Because of its unusual structure, the kea is also called a falcon parrot. The female's beak is smaller, less curved and significantly shorter than the male's.

Kea parrots live exclusively in New Zealand. They can be found in the forests and valleys of the mountains of the South Island at an altitude of 600 to 2000 meters. In the summer, kea parrots live in bushes and alpine tundra. In the fall, they move to higher areas rich in berries. And in winter, these birds can be found near tourist houses, ski resorts, campsites. They have adapted to the harsh conditions so well that they enjoy swimming in puddles of icy water and tumbling in the snow.

Although keas eat plants, fruits and seeds, they will also eat animal food if the opportunity arises. These can be not only insects, small rodents, but also carrion. According to farmers, keas can even attack live sheep and kill them by pecking out the subcutaneous fat on their backs. But this does not happen very often and mainly during the winter hungry season, when the birds have to survive in a very harsh mountain climate.

Keas do not shy away from communication with humans. They willingly settle closer to human dwellings and can feed on food waste, like stray dogs and cats. However, unlike them, keas can easily open tin and plastic cans, garbage cans, etc. Moreover, they can damage cars by tearing out various parts. Everywhere where kea live, there are posters calling not to feed the parrots. But people still feed them, turning the wild bird into a beggar. Kea can attack groups of tourists in order to find and take away something edible. Backpacks, handbags, umbrellas, wallets and other similar things - everything interests parrots because of their novelty and unusualness. In the mountains, not far from their habitat, "stashes" are periodically found - hidden and variously sorted objects.

Kea parrots have long been known to ornithologists for their unique intelligence. The bird is easy to learn, easily solves logical problems, distinguishes colors and has an excellent memory. Monkeys could not pass all the tests that kea easily overcame. Kea are also able to learn simply by observing their relatives. They work well both independently and in teams.

Источник://parrotologia.com/species/parrot-kea/,/dzen.ru/a / XlZe6sxX7yNJsynI, /dzen.ru/a/ZktjUgR6Im6eO1zM, /sharker. livejournal.com/128651.html, //pikabu.ru/story/kea__gornyiy _ popugay_kotoryiy_po_umstvennyim_sposobnostyam_prevoskhodit_obezyan_4425421, //4parrots.ru/5450-popugaj-kea/.

[new-dinosaurs]

Xenavicula pamelae Mayr & Kitchener, 2024 (new genus and species)

(Specimens of Xenavicula pamelae [scale bars = 5 mm], from Mayr and Kitchener, 2024)

Meaning of name: Xenavicula = strange [in Greek] small bird [in Latin]; pamelae = for Pamela Daniels [the late wife of the collector of the original fossil, Michael Daniels]

Age: Eocene (Ypresian), 54.6‒55 million years ago

Where found: London Clay Formation, Essex, U.K.

How much is known: Two partial skeletons, together consisting of various limb bones.

Notes: Xenavicula was a small bird, though it is unclear exactly what type of bird it was. In some ways, it resembles psittacopedids, a group of small Eocene birds closely related to passeriforms (songbirds and their kin). Unlike psittacopedids, however, Xenavicula lacked parrot-like zygodactyl feet (in which two toes on each foot point forward and two point back). It also has similarities to members of Picocoraciades, a group of birds that includes hornbills, kingfishers, and woodpeckers.

Xenavicula had a highly unusual shoulder socket distinct from that of any living bird. Its anatomy suggests that it was constrained in its ability to raise its wings above its back, probably limiting its flapping capabilities. This may indicate that it had some form of specialized locomotory behavior, though without more complete remains, it is difficult to determine what behavior this might have been.

Reference: Mayr, G. and A.C. Kitchener. 2024. Two distinctive, but difficult-to-classify, avian species and a new trogon (Trogoniformes) from the early Eocene London Clay. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie advance online publication. doi: 10.1127/njgpa/2024/1216

[artechoceneexplorer]

Fifth day of Spectember! This time, from the boreal forests of Eurasia, the Aurora Pinecaw (Faeriepteryx borealis).

Invasive parakeets had a rough start in Europe after the extinction event, when glaciations resumed, and Europe got covered by snow and ice. However, thanks to their communal nests, they survived this period, and once it ended, they thrived in the vast conifer forests that grew in the wake of glaciers, and a genus of parrots evolved, the Faekeets (Faeriepteryx). They are still communal nesters, building huge wooden nests insulated with grass, feathers and moss, with big compartments in which family groups care for eggs and chicks together.

The Aurora Pinecaw is not only one of the biggest in this group, but one of the most widespread, being found across northern Eurasia, from Scandinavia to easternmost Siberia. They are migratory, flying vast distances in between breeding seasons in search of conifer patches experiencing mast years, using their memory to locate these patches every year. They can fly so far that some vagrant flocks are often found across the Bering straight and even in island environments like Iceland, and sometimes interbreed with native species, producing hybrids.

[wenbochenphoto]

This is my #Davidson’sPlum tree. The fruit is a famous Australian bush tucker which is considered a gourmet food nowadays. Unfortunately I never got the chance to taste them because the parrots make sure they eat them all before they ripen. There are three species in this genus, all occur in the subtropical rainforest of northern NSW and SE QLD.

[fubberio-yaps-about-fish]

First Fish Yap Post - Labridae!

I figure it fit for the first post in this blog to be about my favourite fish family ever - Labridae - the wrasses, parrotfishes and cales.

Introduction Labridae is a diverse (and extremely cool!) family of fishes, encompassing nearly 700 species, and occur in tropical and temperate marine waters worldwide - none inhabit freshwater. Typically, they are elongate, small to medium in size and colourful, and the greatest species diversity is found on tropical coral reefs.

This green fellow is Thalassoma lunare - the Moon Wrasse. By all means, a fairly 'typical' wrasse.

Taxonomy The number of species included within Labridae has increased over time, not only by the description of new species, but also from species from other families being reclassified as members of Labridae - notably, the parrotfishes (formerly family Scaridae) and the cales (formerly family Odacidae). The parrotfishes and cales were always considered to be close relatives of Labridae, but genetic studies have shown that these groups are deeply nested within Labridae, and thus should be classified in this family. The closest living relatives of Labridae, based on genetic evidence, appears to be the curious family Centrogenyidae, the false scorpionfishes.

This is Scarus rivulatus - the Surf Parrotfish. Formerly placed in the family Scaridae, but along with all other parrotfishes, is now included in Labridae

Siphonognathus caninis - the Sharp-nosed Weed-whiting. Formerly placed in Odacidae (a family of temperate marine fishes found only in southern Australia and New Zealand), but along with all other Odacidae species is now included in Labridae.

Diets and Feeding This is where the labrids really get interesting. The vast majority of labrids are carnivorous - typically subsisting on crustaceans, molluscs and other invertebrate prey. The 'typical' carnivorous wrasses possess simple, peglike teeth to break down their (often shelled) prey, but many groups show interesting specialisations to the mouth, jaws and teeth to exploit other food sources.

The aforementioned parrotfishes and cales are largely herbivorous, and have specialised tooth structures to facilitate this diet - in parrotfishes, their teeth have fused into a thick, parrot-like beak to scrape algae from rocks. In doing this, the top layer of rock is also scraped off and ingested, to be later excreted as the fine white sand on tropical beaches that humans find so appealing. So next time you find yourself on a gorgeous tropical beach, don't forget that you're standing on a giant accumulated mound of parrotfish poo! The cales take a similar but different approach to herbivory - they too have fused beaklike teeth, but use them like a pair of garden shears to clip mouthfuls of algae and seaweed.

Some wrasses are plankivorous, aggregating in shoals that hover at the edge of the reef to pick at plankton floating by on the currents - this guild includes the likes of the genus Cirrhilabrus and smaller species of Thalassoma.

The Slingjaw Wrasse (Epibulus insidiator) has a most unusual mouth structure that allows it to massively extend it's jaws, forming a frankly absurd tubelike structure to allow it to slurp up small fish and shrimp that may be hiding in small crevices. The ability to protrude the mouth out like this is common amongst ray-finned fishes, but few can do so to the ridiculous extent of the Slingjaw Wrasse. I HIGHLY recommend looking up a video of the slingjaw in action, it's super cool.

Epibulus indidiator (Slingjaw Wrasse) showing off it's frankly absurd jaw protrusion. When the jaws are retracted, they sit flat against the rest of the head.

The various species of tubelip wrasses are specialists on a very strange diet - the mucus secreted by corals. As the name suggests, these fishes have unusually long and fleshy lips that come together to form a sealed tube, with which the fish uses to create a tight seal against a piece of coral and sucks up the mucus.

Labrichthys unilineatus, one such species of tubelip wrasse. Look at those lips!

Perhaps the best-known feeding specialisation in wrasses is that of species that clean other fishes of parasites, food waste and dead skin. Many wrasse species engage in cleaning behaviour as juveniles, but a few (such as the genus Labroides, the well-known 'cleaner wrasses') continue this behaviour into adulthood, and make it their primary source of sustenance. These small, striped wrasses will set up 'cleaning stations' on the reef, attended by one or more cleaner wrasses - typically, a reef with have several of these stations. Most sedentary fish species will simply visit the cleaning station closest to their territory, but wider-ranging species are willing to travel considerable distance to visit the stations that offer the best service, so competition between cleaning stations is fierce to provide the best services to win these picky customers. The cleaner wrasses will give preferential treatment to non-local fish to win their favour, and can individually recognise hundreds of fishy customers from different species. Even large, predatory fish species are accepted customers, and the cleaner wrasses will happily enter the mouths and gills of groupers, sharks and eels to clean them. Only on very rare occasions will such a predator eat a cleaner wrasse - the benefit of the wrasse's cleaning services is greater to the predator than the immediate caloric benefit of consuming the wrasse, so the wrasse can swim straight into the mouth of predatory fish with impunity.

Labroides dimidiatus (Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse), the best-known species of the genus Labroides.

Sex-swapping and Reproductive Strategies An extremely interesting (but not entirely unique) trait of the wrasses is their ability to change sex, and the reproductive systems this enables. Almost all wrasses are born females, and can become male later in life. Often, juvenile female wrasses will join harems, consisting of numerous juveniles and adult females, and a single male. In these harems, there is a strict dominance hierarchy, with each fish harassing those lower in the ranks than itself. This constant low-level stress inhibits the hormone production that would cause a female wrasse to transition into a male - except for the most dominant fish, which is free to transform into a male. Usually, the dominant male will bear different colouration and patterning to the other fish in the harem, making the boss easy to pick out from the rest. The dominant male in a wrasse harem will frequently spawn with the adult females. However, if the dominant fish is removed from the harem (eg. if he dies, or is kicked out after losing a dominance contest to another wrasse), the most dominant female will become male to take his place. The behavioural change is almost instantaneous - the new dominant fish will become more aggressive - but the change in colouration and gonads can take a few weeks to a few months.

Female Thalassoma amblycephalum (Blunthead Wrasse)

Dominant male of the same species. It's easy to see how often, male and female of the same wrasse species can be incorrectly identified as being different species - even by scientists!

Intelligence and Tool Use Perhaps, 'intelligent' is not a word often used to describe fishes, but wrasses would certainly be among the brainiest of the fishes. The previously mentioned Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse is one of the few fish to have demonstrated self-awareness via the mirror test (although the mirror test has rarely been attempted on fishes, so perhaps the number of self-aware fish out there is higher than we realise), and several wrasse species (particularly the tuskfishes of the genus Choerodon) have been observed to use tools. Tuskfishes have a pretty fearsome set of teeth that they use to break through the shells of their prey, but that alone is not enough to break the thickest of clam shells - so they use tools to smash the clams. A tuskfish, upon finding a clam too solid to bite through, will carry it in it's mouth to a habitually used rock or knob of coral, and with the clam still in it's mouth, flick it's head to hit the clam against the rock to break it. Only rarely does this work the first try, but the tuskfish is persistent, and will repeatedly hit the clam until it breaks, allowing the fish entry to consume the flesh inside.

Choerodon anchorago (Anchor Tuskfish), one species that has been observed to use tools to break open clam shells.

Sleep Labrids have some pretty interesting behaviours to avoid being eaten while they sleep (although it could be argued fish do not truly 'sleep', saying 'sleep-like resting state' every time is too wordy so I'll just say 'sleep'). Many species will burrow into the sand to sleep, to hide from predators - a behaviour that can be alarming to the beginner saltwater aquarist, who may be terrified to find that their newly-acquired wrasse has suddenly dissappeared when the tank lights are turned off! Other species (especially the parrotfishes) produce a bubble of mucus to sleep in, like a sleeping bag made of snot. They make a new bubble every night, the purpose of which is to conceal the fish's scent from predators as it sleeps in a crevice or under a head of coral, as well as to prevent parasites settling on the fish's skin. In the morning, the fish will eat it's way out of it's mucus bubble.

A parrotfish (I'm not sure which species exactly) sleeping in it's mucus bubble.

Oh, and did I mention that some wrasses are drop-dead GORGEOUS???? Just LOOK at these

Cirrhilabrus hygroxerus - Monsoon Fairy Wrasse

Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura - Blueside Fairy Wrasse. This colour form of the species with the yellow spot on the flanks was previously considered a seperate species (Cirrhilabrus ryukyuensis), but has been reclassified as a colour variant of C. cyanopleura.

Macropharyngodon meleagris - Leopard Wrasse

Gomphosus varius - Pacific Bird Wrasse. Boy, why you so nose??

Cheilinus undulatus - Humphead Maori Wrasse. This is the largest species in the family Labridae (reaching a whopping 2.3 metres!), and unfortunately also one of the most threatened - it is heavily fished for the seafood trade, and it's slow growth makes it easily overharvested.

Lachnolaimus maximus - Hogfish

[sufficientlylargen]

A few of my favorite words

Note: I scrolled back to the very beginning of my drafts folder, and found this post that I apparently saved as a draft on July 1, 2014, almost exactly a decade ago. Please enjoy it now.

Eunoia

This is the shortest word in the English language with all five common vowels. It comes from a greek phrase meaning "beautiful thinking", and now means "the goodwill that a speaker or author has towards their listeners/readers". There's an archaic spelling "eunœa", but then it doesn't have all the vowels. So eunoia is also one of very few words where adding a ligature makes it less cool.

There's a taxonomic genus called Iouea, which is an even shorter word with all five vowels, but you can't use it in Scrabble because it's a proper noun, so it doesn't count.

Kea

This is a species of parrot that kills sheep. This is because birds are dinosaurs. That's really all there is to say on the matter.

Ucalegon

From time to time you see lists of non-English words for things we don't have words for, and then you get jealous of people who have a single word for that thing where you tap someone on their far shoulder so that they turn and look in the wrong direction. But now you can feel better, because "ucalegon" means "a neighbor whose house is on fire". Every now and then I find myself wishing that a nearby house would catch fire so that I could have a ucalegon. A small fire, obviously - no real damage, just some singing on a rug or something.

I learned this word at a talk by world-renown puzzlemaster Will Shortz. It's his favorite word.

Facetiously

I didn't realize the significance of this word until I played 3 in Three way back in the 90's, a phenomenal puzzle game by Cliff Johnson about a number 3 who, during a power surge, gets knocked off her spreadsheet and falls into the inner workings of the computer. You should go play if you haven't, and if you have played it you should go play it again. The cool thing about "facetiously" is that it's one of very few words in our language to contain A, E, I, O, U, and Y, in that order. Arseniously also works, as do a few others, but facetiously is the only one common enough that your spellchecker probably knows it.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Round Two: Heracles vs Heliothraupis

Heracles inexpectatus

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: Unexpected Herculean Parrot 

Time: 16 to 19 million years ago (Burdigalian stage of the Miocene epoch, Neogene period) 

Location: St. Bathans Fauna, Bannockburn Formation, Aotearoa  

Heracles was a truly alarmingly large parrot, related to modern day Kea, Kaka, and Kakapo, known from the fantastic avifauna of St Bathans. Standing more than two feet tall and weighing about fifteen pounds, this animal was much larger than any expected from the St Bathans fauna, which represented the initial colonization of Aotearoa (Zealandia) after it returned above sea level. Heracles is also the largest known species of parrot, ever. It was presumably flightless, though it is uncertain if it was nocturnal like its living relative the Kakapo. Its exact ecology is still uncertain, given the material known from Heracles is limited and its living relatives have very disparate ecologies, though it is possible it was omnivorous similar to the Kea and Kaka today. The St Bathans fauna lived in a freshwater lake system, in a subtropical emergent rainforest. Separated from land bridges, the fauna was dominated by birds, with early relatives of the Kiwi, New Zealand Wrens, Adzebills, and Wedge-Tailed eagles found in the fauna, as well as somewhat modern looking Moas. Smaller flamingos, large fruit pigeons, and a huge variety of geese and other waterfowl are known. In addition, frogs, tuataras, other lizards, crocodilians, turtles, and many different types of fish are known from this fascinating ecosystem. 

Heliothraupis oneilli

Photograph by John C. Mittermeier, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: O’Neill’s Tanager of the Sun God Inti 

Time: Unknown to the present, Holocene, Quaternary 

Location: Western Bolivia and Southern Peru, South America 

Rarely do we get to talk about a newly discovered living species of bird, but this is one of those excellent times! This bird, a bright yellow tanager with a distinctive black stripe across its eye, was found in the Neotropics - specifically in the Yungas region. Given that Latin America has the largest number of bird species in the world, it makes a certain amount of sense that we may have missed some! First spotted in the nineties, it was properly identified and described over the course of the 2010s. The distinctive appearance of this tanager lead to it being nicknamed the “Kill Bill Tanager”, in reference to its similarity to Uma Thurman’s yellow jumpsuit outfit. Distinct in appearance and population from other tanagers, it was deemed not only a separate species, but an entirely separate genus. It is migratory, breeding in the northern Machariapo Valley and going down to the eastern Andes for the nonbreeding season. It lives in deciduous forests, and breeds in bamboo grasses. It is a loud and vocal bird, making distinctive songs and choruses that happen long after the dawn chorus of most other birds. As it lives in a fairly isolated region of these countries, its habitat is not particularly threatened at this time.

[akariuta311101]

Oviraptor Philoceratops

Taxonomic Group: Oviraptor Philoceratops is a genus within the family Oviraptoridae, part of the suborder Theropoda. These dinosaurs are known for their bird-like characteristics and belong to the group commonly referred to as oviraptorids.

Size and Weight: Oviraptor was a relatively small dinosaur, estimated to be about 1.5 to 2 meters (5 to 6.5 feet) in length and weighing approximately 20 to 30 kilograms (44 to 66 pounds).

Time Period: Oviraptor lived during the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 75 to 71 million years ago.

Location: Fossils of Oviraptor have been discovered in Mongolia, particularly in the Gobi Desert region.

Diet: Initially believed to be an egg thief due to the discovery of its fossils near a nest, Oviraptor is now considered to have been omnivorous. Its diet likely included small vertebrates, eggs, and plant material.

Distinctive Features: Oviraptor is characterized by its toothless beak and cranial crest, which may have been used for display or species recognition. Unlike many theropods, it had a short, parrot-like beak and a reduced number of teeth.

Head Structure: The skull of Oviraptor was large relative to its body, with a beak-like structure at the front. It had a pair of large orbits, suggesting good vision, and a notable crest on its head.

Movement and Behavior: Oviraptor was a bipedal dinosaur, moving on its hind legs. It was likely agile and fast, using its speed to evade predators and catch prey. The structure of its limbs indicates it was capable of quick, agile movements.

Initial Discovery: The genus Oviraptor was described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1924, based on fossils discovered in the Djadokhta Formation. The name "Oviraptor," meaning "egg thief," was given due to the initial misinterpretation of its association with a nest of eggs.

Skin and Fossil Finds: While direct skin impressions of Oviraptor are rare, fossilized skeletons, including skulls, limbs, and eggs, have been found. These fossils provide valuable insights into its anatomy, diet, and potential nesting behaviors.

Social Behavior: There is evidence suggesting that Oviraptor may have exhibited complex social behaviors. Fossils of adults have been found near nests, indicating possible parental care. Additionally, some evidence points to the possibility of group living or cooperative behaviors, although this is still a topic of ongoing research.

Eggs and Nesting: Oviraptor fossils have been found in close association with nests and eggs, suggesting that they may have actively guarded their nests. The discovery of brooding adults indicates that Oviraptor, like modern birds, might have cared for its young.

[albertonykus]

With recent advances in genetic sequencing and analysis, we now have a pretty good idea of how most modern vertebrate animals are related to each other. One of the biggest remaining mysteries in vertebrate evolution (and a major theme of my own research), however, is the relationships among the major groups of living birds.

There are some things that we all agree on about the bird family tree (which in some cases were already recognized before the rise of genetic studies), a big one being that modern birds can be divided into two major branches: Palaeognathae (ostriches, emus, and their close relatives) and Neognathae (all other living birds). Neognathae is in turn divided into Galloanserae (chickens, ducks, and their close relatives) and Neoaves (all remaining birds, which constitute 95% of living bird diversity).

Despite birds being one of the most intensely studied animal groups, however, essentially none of the large-scale genetic analyses that have been done on them so far have agreed with each other regarding how the major groups within Neoaves are related.

A new study by Stiller et al. (2024) might represent a big step forward in solving this mystery. Their results suggest that Neoaves can be divided into four major groups.

Mirandornithes: Flamingos and grebes. Stiller et al. found that all other members of Neoaves are probably more closely related to each other than to this group.

Columbaves: Consisting of two major subgroups, Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, and turacos) and Columbimorphae (pigeons, sandgrouse, and mesites). Notably, Columbimorphae has been found by some earlier studies to be more closely related to Mirandornithes, but a second paper that was published on the same day by some of the same authors as Stiller et al. (2024) reported evidence that this previous result was probably caused by misleading similarities between the genetic sequences of Columbimorphae and Mirandornithes.

Elementaves: Consisting of Gruiformes (cranes and their close relatives), Charadriiformes (shorebirds), Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightjars, and their close relatives), Phaethoquornithes (many waterbirds, including penguins, albatrosses, and herons), and the engimatic hoatzin. The exact relationships among these groups are still somewhat unclear; for example, Stiller et al. found the hoatzin to be most closely related to gruiforms and shorebirds (as had been suggested by an earlier study), but support for this result was not high. The hoatzin remains the single most difficult bird species to place in the bird family tree. The name Elementaves was newly coined by Stiller et al., referring to the fact that this group includes species specialized for life in the water, on the ground, and in the air (corresponding to the classical elements of water, earth, and air), as well as birds named after the sun ("fire"), such as the tropicbird genus Phaethon (Ancient Greek for "sun") and the sunbittern. This means that there is now a scientific basis for parodying Avatar: The Last Airbender using birds.

Telluraves: A big group consisting primarily of tree-dwelling birds, including songbirds, parrots, woodpeckers, kingfishers, and the various groups of birds of prey. An interesting result found by Stiller et al. is that owls are likely closely related to accipitrimorphs (hawks, eagles, vultures, etc.), which not all previous genetic studies had supported.

Stiller et al. (2024) provide further evidence for some bird relationships found by earlier analyses, but their results still doesn't exactly match those of any single previous study, so what makes this different from all those attempts that came before it? One is the amount of data. The genetic dataset analyzed by Stiller et al. was many times larger (both in terms of sequence length and the types of genes examined) than any study of this sort that had previously been done on birds. They also included over 360 bird species, which is more than what most previous studies had. Furthermore, they ran numerous tests to determine how the amount of data, number of species, and types of genes analyzed affected their findings, and in doing so were able to show that most of their results were relatively robust, or at least better supported than alternative hypotheses.

Another point of contention regarding the evolution of Neoaves is when the group originated. Were there already many neoavian lineages around during the Late Cretaceous, or did they mostly diversify following the mass extinction event that ended it? In the 2000s and early 2010s, studies trying to estimate the ages of bird groups based on rates of genetic evolution tended to find an older origin for Neoaves, but the majority of newer studies favor a younger origin, with most or all modern neoavian groups appearing after the Cretaceous (though one paper from earlier this year by a different team of authors advocated for older ages). Informed by recent studies on fossil birds, the results of Stiller et al. add further support for a more recent, mainly post-Cretaceous diversification of Neoaves (which I happen to think is more plausible than deep Cretaceous origins).

This almost certainly won't be the last word on these controversies by any means. However, at the moment I'm willing to tentatively consider Stiller et al. (2024) the closest we've gotten to approximating the true family tree of birds, and that is not a declaration I'd make lightly.

[spicesprouts]

There's a fusion in the animals of Palia that makes my brain roll around and want to inspect, for however much the design intentionally or unintentionally informs ecology. This is basically me talking about things to myself, but you're welcome to come along for the ride. The four I'm touching on are Flutterfoxes, Palcats, Plumehounds, and Silverwings, but I lost steam so I'll get back to it later. I'm also tacking on what this means for Sunny's lycanthropy involving bird aspects at the end, just as a head's up.

Flutterfoxes have floral imagery in the petal-like layering of their ears, with Fennec Fox-adjacent features. This plant-like camouflage could be reminiscent of a mantid or other insect, and their small stature compared to plumehounds could lean into a different food source niche for the two similar but divergent species? There are no flutterfoxes in game that can receive food, but it could be playfully assumed by the associations (camouflage, their butterfly-evoking name) they might enjoy a diet of insects and plants (or photosynthesis if legitimately a flora-fauna fusion). Maybe they were bred into domestication or "fancy" colorations and the features were exaggerated beyond a wild type, and the proclivities for insect-hunting became more pronounced? Palcats also have stated butterfly imagery, rather than the naming convention for flutterfoxes, so it could be argued that they in fact are the bred-down domesticated pets compared to flutterfoxes. There's something to be said for fusion versus patterning (Flutterfoxes/Plumehounds/Chapaa versus the less-fused Sernuk/Muujini/Palcats), so maybe I'll put a pin in Palcats in general.

Plumehounds are also foxlike, but their name (barely!!! to be fair) implies they may lie closer to fox-like canids (think South American foxes in genus Lycalopex like the gray and bat-eared foxes, but also some of the wolf-like canines in Canini Canina). They also have a proclivity to fungal matter, plant matter, and meat, which in both sub-sections of canids tracks as facultative. Their feathers suggest an influence of some sort of bird, though while the instinct to consider birds of prey as said influence seems reasonable, I'd argue their ability to enjoy a variety of foods besides meat may lean them into the realm of birds the likes of parrots or Galliformes. I considered corvids, too, but the plumage on the neck isn't as rounded and textured as I'd like compared to Tau's. By Tau's proclivities to mushrooms and root vegetables, I could see a case for a ground bird, and Tau's tendency to take and bury or chew things I've already alluded to feeling very parrot-like.

Silverwings are expressly described as birds of prey, and owing to the nest sites' proximity to fishing pools and that they migrate long enough distances to sleep on each other while flying, I'd suspect their lineage leaning in the vein of sea birds like Osprey. Their physical appearance leans Galliformes a little, understandably evoking peafowl with coloration, but they give off more Secretary Bird or Seriemas (another South American bird that does not fly much). It's interesting and I think something to think about with Plumehounds and Flutterfoxes as maybe being opportunistic (scavengers?) rather than abject obligate carnivore predators, and their morphology referencing in two ways more docile/not predatory winged creatures.

With respect to a strain of lycanthropy, or other therianthropies in the vein of what I'm imagining for Sunny (maybe created naturally from Flow as an, idk, virus essentially, but not giving her specifically any more attunement to Flow than any other humans), I'd think the design choices of a lot of creatures that have explicity predatory behaviors over scavaging might lean towards design choices similar to the silverwings.

Which, as the only other bird (besides Peki which I'd be glad to see too), I'd wonder how their version of the Phoenix falls in terms of influence. Is the deity a predatory bird (the way we'd assume a dragon is a predatory animal, and with the intelligence level of Majiri and humans I'd guess discerning at least)?

Unless Flow-based viruses/curses/what-have-you have deific implications, I don't think any deific designs should really play a role in therianthropic morphology, ultimately??

Idk I am full of thoughts and ponderings and I like animals but have such limited energy to deep dive any more lmao.

[downtofragglerock]

Alright lets move on to the birds

As far as variety goes, the mu's bird population seems to either be flightless, or a bird of prey.

While flightlessness shows up in species in multiple genus (primarily because flying spends so much energy the second it isn't needed as a viable survival strategy evolution takes its course) when most people think flightless birds, two images come to mind: penguins and ratites.

The mu does have a species of penguin, the Manutri.

As for ratites, the Husi is said to be an ostrich.

But most of the mu's flightless birds are just called that without any distinction, in fact, a lot of the mu's birds are just called birds without clarification to what type of bird they are.

So other flightless birds include the Dikapi and the Infernavika. The Pokawi is actually stated to be a flightless parrot, which means it's probably meant to be a direct rahi counterpart to the Kakapo, so that's something

The mu has quite a few raptors, the Kahu, Lava Hawk and the Smoke Hawk are all hawks, Nivawk might be one as well given that its name is almost certainly derived from the word hawk. The Kewa is said to be an eagle, but some material contradicts this and says it's a vulture, but the eagle description seems to be the more common of the two.

Then there's some miscellaneous birds. The Mata Nui fishing bird is said to be a seabird, although nothing more is given outside of that. the Necrofinch is a finch. The Taku is a duck or some form of waterfowl. And the Gukko is a hummingbird.

The you have the "generic bird" group, which includes the Moa, which ironically isn't a ratite, despite the name, the unnamed bird rahi from the pc game, and the unnamed background bird rahi from the Miramax movies

One thing that's interesting about mu birds is that multiple species are really big, big enough to ride and used as an air force like with the Kahu and Kewa. Nivawk, while roughly person sized in the movies, is big enough for "Dume" to mount in set form and I believe in the comics. Even the Gukko, which belongs to a group that is minuscule in individual size in our world, is big enough for two matoran to ride. Details like that are intriguing from a worldbuilding perspective.

[vestaignis]

Мейеров или желтоплечий длиннокрылый попугай. Он же попугай Мейера(Poicephalus meyeri).Назван в честь немецкого ботаника и орнитолога Бернхарда Мейера (1767—1836). Различают 6 подвидов, с незначительными различиями в окрасе и в ареале обитания.

Мейеров длиннокрылый попугай - самый маленький представитель рода длиннокрылых попугаев. Длина тела 21—25 см, хвоста 5—6 см .Он один из наиболее красивых представителей рода длиннокрылых попугаев. В окрасе головы, шеи, груди, крыльев и хвоста преобладают коричневые или теплые серые тона с желтыми вкраплениями. Крестец и внутренняя сторона хвоста могут иметь цвет от ярко-зеленого до ярко-синего. Спина серая. Клюв чёрный. Радужка оранжев��-красная. Приблизительный возраст птицы можно определить по окрасу радужной оболочки глаза: у молодых птиц она коричневая, у взрослых - оранжево-красная. Самец и самка по окраске не отличаются.

Обитает попугай Мейера в Восточной и Центральной Африке. Населяют разреженные леса, акациевые рощи и кустарниковые заросли вблизи водоёмов, саванны, встречаются на высоте до 1300 м над уровнем моря. Питается семенами различных растений, цветами, соцветиями и плодами, вегетативными частями растений.

Мейеров длиннокрылый попугай гнездятся в дуплах деревьев на большой высоте. В кладке обычно 2—4 яйца, которые насиживает самка в течение 25—30 дней. Самец охраняет гнездо и кормит самку, а впоследствии участвует в выкармливании птенцов.

Meyer's or Yellow-shouldered Long-winged Parrot. Also known as Meyer's Parrot (Poicephalus meyeri). Named after the German botanist and ornithologist Bernhard Meyer (1767-1836). There are 6 subspecies, with minor differences in color and habitat.

Meyer's Long-winged Parrot is the smallest representative of the genus of Long-winged Parrots. The body length is 21-25 cm, the tail is 5-6 cm. It is one of the most beautiful representatives of the genus of Long-winged Parrots. The color of the head, neck, chest, wings and tail is dominated by brown or warm gray tones with yellow blotches. The rump and the inside of the tail can have a color from bright green to bright blue. The back is gray. The beak is black. The iris is orange-red. The approximate age of the bird can be determined by the color of the iris: in young birds it is brown, in adults it is orange-red. The male and female do not differ in color.

Meyer's parrot lives in East and Central Africa. They inhabit sparse forests, acacia groves and shrub thickets near water bodies, savannas, and are found at an altitude of up to 1300 m above sea level. It feeds on seeds of various plants, flowers, inflorescences and fruits, vegetative parts of plants.

Meyer's long-winged parrots nest in tree hollows at high altitudes. The clutch usually contains 2-4 eggs, which the female incubates for 25-30 days. The male guards the nest and feeds the female, and subsequently participates in feeding the chicks.

Источник://t.me/roundtravel,//pofoto.club/9310-popugaj-mejera-44-foto.html,//dibird.com/ru/species/mejerov-dlinnokrylyj-popugaj/, /poknok.art/6044-popugaj-mejera.html,/www.berl.ru/article/birds/ popu/pop/meierov_dlinnokrylyi_popugai.htm,/ru.ruwiki.ru/wiki/Мейеровдлиннокрылыйпопугай.

[new-dinosaurs]

Masillatrogon incertus Mayr & Kitchener, 2024 (new species)

(Type specimen of Masillatrogon incertus [scale bars = 5 mm], from Mayr and Kitchener, 2024)

Meaning of name: incertus = uncertain [in Latin]

Age: Eocene (Ypresian), 54.6‒55 million years ago

Where found: London Clay Formation, Essex, U.K.

How much is known: A partial right hindlimb. Four partial skeletons, together representing part of the lower jaw, some vertebrae, and various forelimb bones, may also belong to this species.

Notes: M. incertus was closely related to extant trogons, a group of tropical birds that include the famed resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno). They are the only living birds that have heterodactyl feet, in which the two inner toes on each foot are both rotated to point backwards. (In most birds, only the innermost toe points backwards, and in a few groups, like cuckoos and parrots, the outermost toe is also rotated.)

The only other species of Masillatrogon that had been previously named was the slightly larger and younger M. pumilio from the Eocene of Germany, though the describers of M. incertus only tentatively assign both to the same genus. Some of the partial skeletons that may belong to M. incertus were formerly considered small specimens of Eotrogon, another proto-trogon known from the London Clay Formation.

Reference: Mayr, G. and A.C. Kitchener. 2024. Two distinctive, but difficult-to-classify, avian species and a new trogon (Trogoniformes) from the early Eocene London Clay. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie advance online publication. doi: 10.1127/njgpa/2024/1216