A brood patch is a bare area of skin that some birds develop during nesting. The bare skin is an adaptation to help with egg incuabation.
The patch of featherless skin allows the parent bird to provide extra warmth from his or her own body to the eggs in the nest, and to growing, naked, newly-hatched chicks in the first days of life.
Bird banders note brood patch on American Robin by VSPYCC (CC BY 2.0)
Both males and females can develop a brood patch, depending on the species and how incubation duty is shared. In most species, the brood patch develops as feathers are naturally shed during nesting activities. In some species, the brood patch appears through self-plucking. Ducks and geese, for instance, may line their nest with soft breast feathers, exposing the skin.
Canada Goose sits on eggs in nest lined with feathers by Bradley Davis (CC BY-ND 2.0)
The location of the brood patch on the adult bird's body depends on the species. Most birds have a single bare patch of skin, while some species may develop two or even three patches.
Fun Fact: Bird banders use the presence of a brood patch to determine if a bird is currently nesting. The presence of a brood patch can also help to sex or age the bird. The patch on most birds is not immediately visible on the bird's body; banders gently blow air on the belly to separate the surrounding feathers to see if a patch is present.
If you think our Birdorable birds are cute as adults, what about when they are babies? Below are some baby photos (shared via Flickr Creative Commons) of the Canada Goose.
Canada Geese sometimes get a bad rap as nuisance birds and they have a reputation for being aggressive. But these North American native birds have their place in our environment. And it's hard to deny that they are handsome birds as adults, and pretty darn cute as babies.
Canada Geese start their nest with a scrape, and then build a nest out of local plant material. The inside is usually lined with soft downy feathers. The female goose will incubate the eggs herself; the process usually takes 25 to 28 days. At hatching, the chicks are fully covered with down. They are able to leave the nest within about 24 hours of hatching. They can swim upon leaving the nest; flight occurs 6 to 7 weeks later.
Back in June, the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan celebrated World Migratory Bird Day. Some activities centered around the endangered Kirtland's Warbler, which breeds in parts of Michigan.
Birdorable Kirtland's Warbler coloring pages and stickers were used in part of the activities, where children learned about the small songbird.
Here are some photos from the fun day at the zoo.
Check out all of our Free Downloadable Coloring Pages, available for your next educational bird event or any time you're looking for colorful bird fun!
If you think our Birdorable birds are cute as adults, what about when they are babies? Below are some baby photos (shared via Flickr Creative Commons) of the European Starling.
Across North America, the European Starling is a huge "success" story. Today's population of over 200 million birds can all be traced back to the release of about 100 individuals in New York in the early 1890s. Unfortunately, they compete with native birds, especially those that use cavities for nesting.
In Europe, where they are native, the starling population has suffered declines since the 1980s due to loss of available food sources.
Whether you see these birds as pests or beloved natives, it's hard to deny that they have pretty adult plumage and that they are even cuter when they are chicks.
Baby Starling by Audrey (CC BY 2.0)Baby Starlings in Nest by hedera.baltica (CC BY-SA 2.0)Baby Starling by Airwolfhound (CC BY-SA 2.0)Baby European Starling by Keith Laverack (CC BY-ND 2.0)Adult and Baby European Starling by Chris Isherwood (CC BY-SA 2.0)Mother and Baby Starlings by Airwolfhound (CC BY-SA 2.0)Adult with Baby Starling by marneejill (CC BY-SA 2.0)Young Starling by Jo Garbutt (CC BY 2.0)
There are 19 species of stork in the world. These birds are generally heavy and tall, with long, thick bills.
The Wood Stork is one of three New World species of stork (the others are the Maguari Stork and the Jabiru). The range of the Wood Stork extends the furthest north of these three species. Here are some interesting facts about this unique species.
Carnivores
Wood Storks frequently feed in and around water, where they find prey items like fish, frogs, and even small alligators. They will also eat insects, crabs, and other small animals. Wood Storks find food by feeling around with their bill in shallow water. They may use their feet to stir up potenial prey as they slowly move through the water.
Longevity
In the wild, it is believed that Wood Storks reach an average age of 11-18 years. From banding records, we know that the oldest wild bird lived at least 22 years and 4 months. The oldest captive Wood Stork lived to be just over 27 years of age.
Collective Noun
A group of storks is known as a "muster". A group of storks in flight is called a "phalanx". Have you ever seen a muster or phalanx of Wood Storks?
Population Status
The Wood Stork has a large natural range, covering much of South America, coastal Central America, and extreme southern parts of North America. The international IUCN considers the Wood Stork's population threats to be of Least Concern. In the United States, however, loss and degradation of habitat cause its status to be considered Threatened.
Name Games
The Wood Stork superficially resembles an adult White Ibis and was formerly known as the Wood Ibis. This iconic bird has some interesting local nicknames, including Preacher, Ironhead, and Flinthead.
Flamingos are known for being pink. To wrap up our first-ever Flamingo Week, we're sharing a couple of fun coloring pages featuring these iconic birds. Have fun coloring in these cartoon birds with different shades: carnation; blush; mauvelous; primrose; salmon; coral; fuschia; or roseate.
All of our coloring pages are free to download. Find more coloring pages for other species on our free coloring page downloads. And be sure to check out the color schemes for these and all of our birds by visiting the Meet the Birds section of our site.
Have you used our coloring pages at home, in your classroom, or at an event? We’d love to hear about it! Send us photos of the pages in action, or the final result – we may showcase them on our blog!
Flamingo Week continues today with some interesting flamingo extremes and odd facts about this family of pink birds.
Extremely Social Birds
Flamingos live in colonies that may number thousands of individuals. Breeding is also colonial, with birds typically separating into smaller groups of 7-25 pairs. Breeding follows synchronized dancing displays whicih are performed by both male and female birds.
The range of the James's, Chilean, and Andean Flamingo overlap in some areas. These social birds of different species will live in colonies together and even share nesting sites.
Popular In Plastic
In the United States, plastic pink flamingos are a famous kitschy lawn ornament. The decorations were first designed for the U.S. market in 1957. While some homeowners associations ban the plastic pinkies, the city of Madison, Wisconsin designated the plastic flamingo as the city's official bird in 2009.
Unique Feeding Adaptations
Flamingos are omnivores. They filter-feed on brine shrimp, blue-green algea, small insects, mollusks, and other small aquatic animals. Flamingo bills have a unique shape designed to filter feed, separating mud and silt from their food. The bill is used to filter in an upside-down position.
Another special filtering anatomical adaptation flamingos have is lamellae, hairy structures that line their beaks and tongues. Their long legs allow them to stand in water of varying depths, and their webbed feet are used to stir up silt in their search for food items.
Both male and female parent flamingos feed their young chicks a sort of crop "milk", a fat and protein-rich substance produced in upper digestive tract glands and expelled through the beak. This milk is not actually pink. It is similar to the pigeon milk fed to squabs by parent birds in the pigeon and dove family.
Old Flamingos
A Greater Flamingo resident at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia was believed to be at least 83 years old at the time of its death in 2014. That is considerably older than the known longevity record for a wild Greater Flamingo, which was at least 27 years and 6 months, recorded via a rediscovered living banded bird in France.
The longevity record for a wild American Flamingo is just over 13 years, determined via a banding program.
The Most Endangered Flamingo
The Andean Flamingo is considered to be Vulnerable to Extinction. A rapid population decline occured during the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, reducing the global number of wild birds to less than 35,000. Today the population is considered to be stable.
The Most Abundant Flamingo
The Lesser Flamingo is the most abundant species of flamingo, yet it is considered to be Near Threatened due to threats including breeding site degredation.
Height Extremes
While all flamingos are considered to be relatively tall birds, the tallest of the bunch is the aptly named Greater Flamingo, reaching the greatest height at up to 59 inches tall (approximately 150 cm). The smallest is the also aptly named Lesser Flamingo, which may reach only 25 to 35 inches in height (approximately 63 to 89 cm).
If you think our Birdorable birds are cute as adults, what about when they are babies? Below are some baby photos (shared via Flickr Creative Commons) of the American Flamingo and Greater Flamingo.
The six species of flamingo have similar nesting habits. They all breed in colonies. Mating rituals involve synchronized dancing. The nest is a pillar or mound of mud. A single chalky-white egg is laid per nesting attempt. Chicks, grey when first hatched, are fed a protein- and fat-rich diet of crop milk by both parents. Baby flamingos leave the nest around 7-12 days after hatching. Young birds gather in a group, called a creche, to evade predation as they grow.
Flamingos do well in captivity and breed if colony conditions are favorable, which include number of birds of breeding age and ratio of males to females. All of the example baby flamingo photos shared below were taken in zoological parks.
Because of their large size and flashy colors, flamingos capture the imagination of bird lovers and wildlife observers. And because some of the species in this family are facing threats to their survival, flamingos are often featured in the news. Here are some stories featuring these big pink beauties in the past few months.
WISTV – September 13, 2018 A zoo in the path of Hurricane Florence prepares for the coming storm by moving flamingos to indoor enclosures for safety. See video of the pink birds as they get ready to hunker down at the Columbia, South Carolina zoo.
EurekAlert – September 7, 2018 Learn about how flamingos in zoos spend their time after visitors have gone for the day in this scientific study press release.
The New York Times – August 11, 2018 For the first time in 15 years, Andean Flamingos are breeding in a wildlife reserve in Britain. Read about the work the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust is Slimbridge is doing to help endangered species of flamingo.
LiveScience – June 28, 2018 A Greater Flamingo that escaped a Kansas zoo in 2005 is living life as a free bird in Texas. Read about the Old World flamingo's life in the New World.
Audubon.org – Spring 2018 Read about the comeback of the American Flamingo in the Bahamas, in part thanks to the preservation of habitat in Great Inagua National Park. This article includes some fabulous photographs of the species in wild habitats.
First up is our brand new I Love Flamingos t-shirt, featuring a cartoon American Flamingo standing where the heart or word love should be. The letter I in Flamingos is dotted with a tiny heart to emphasize the flamingo love!
Next up is another shirt featuring the American Flamingo. This species is the official bird of the Bahamas. The design has the flamingo standing before the flag of the Bahamas.
Finally, Flamboyance made its debut a few months ago. This shirt features all of the flamingo species in the world in a mixed flock. The collective noun for flamingo is -- you guessed it -- Flamboyance.
