Lab Book - Mammalogy & Ornithology

Biol 308

Ornithology and

Mammalogy

Lab Manual

Ken Otter

Ornithology and Mammalogy Lab Manual Biology 308

General Goals of the Lab The lectures for Biology 308 focus on comparative anatomy and morphology of birds and mammals. The focus for the lab is cladistics and systematics – essentially the general structural and molecular similarities between related species that allow us to classify membership into different Kingdoms, Phyla, Classes, Orders, Families, Genuses and Species. By knowing phylogenetic groupings, we can better disentangle the evolutionary forces that shape the life histories of different species. At a more practical basis, it allows us to group and organize organisms into related, hierarchical clusters, which then makes learning the massive number of species in these two Classes much more digestible. For the labs, the main goal is to teach you how to identify birds and mammals. In order to do this, you will have to learn the morphology of the birds and mammals, and be familiar with the various external characteristics. You will also learn to identify animals by signs or tracks left behind (a very common way of censusing mammals). For some bird species, such as the owls, you will also learn to identify the birds by ear – learning the species-specific calls. You will be responsible for knowing taxonomic names of all birds and mammals found in BC down to the level of Family names. You will also be responsible for knowing the common names of particular species within each family, with emphasis placed on those representative species that are found locally. Structure of the Lab In the first lab, we will head outside (so bring appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather). The emphasis for this first lab will be showing you how to set up your course project (and if we are lucky with weather, we may try some bird banding). After this first lab, though, we will likely spend most of the remaining labs indoors. We will be working with study skins of various species, which allow you to see specimens up close. These are designed to allow you to look at external features of the birds and mammals that will aid in identification skills, particularly in taking notes on field characteristics – unique characteristics of the animal you are viewing that let you classify it down to species. By focusing on general characteristics of orders and families in the lab, you will soon be able to immediately recognize animals you are seeing as belonging within a larger general grouping (e.g. “ducks” versus “loons”). From this stage, you will then focus on narrowing your classification down using markings on the animal until you can use your field guide to determine which species you are dealing with. Quizzes Quizzes are going to be station-based. There will typically be 25-30 stations that you will rotate through, 60 seconds per station. At each station there will be a specimen or picture with an associated question. These will primarily be on taxonomic names, recognition of special characters, external morphology etc. After you get through the stations once, we will run through each station a second time for 30 seconds (to give you a chance to check your responses). Quizzes cover the material in the previous two labs. At the end of the quiz, we will go over the answers so that you know what the specimens were. This will take about 45 minutes at the beginning of the lab period, which will be followed by the lab talk for that day.


LAB 1 – INTRODUCTION TO FIELD CHARACTERISTICS Course Project The purpose of this journal is to supplement both the lab and lecture experience. Lectures are designed to provide information on the comparative anatomy, physiology, behaviour and evolution of birds and mammals. Labs give you and opportunity to learn the classification of resident BC species, as well as provide a chance to get close detailed inspection of animals in order to facilitate identification. However, to truly understand organisms, you have to see them in their natural surroundings. It is only in this context that we can begin to comprehend the link between species as habitats. Objective: to survey a number of different habitats and try to make connections between where different species occur. You should survey at least three different habitat types during the course of the semester. Examples of different habitats found locally are: 1. Riparian (Cottonwood Island Park, Wilkin's Park), 2. Mature Sub-boreal mixed forest (Blue Spruce trail behind the university) 3. Early successional willow/alder forests and pine plantations (Forests for the World) 4. Forest Edge/Meadowland (Moore's Meadow) 5. Wetlands (Hudson's Bay Slough) 6. Agricultural Belts/grasslands (Airport) Task: Students will be expected to go on weekly excursions to various habitats to search for birds and mammals. You should spend at least 1 hour per week in the field. Thus the minimum number of outings required is 10, and minimum total hours required is 10. For full marks, you will have to do more than the minimum. For top marks, you will need to have a few extra outings and/or more hours per outing. Maximum, though you should be shooting for is 18-20hrs and 15 outings to get high marks for this section –“time spent on project” will only be part of the marks. You should report both direct observations (visual sighting) and indirect evidence of presence (tracks, spores, identification of birds by song etc). Notes should be detailed, including descriptions of the animal that allowed you to identify it. Diagrams of tracks, scat, colour patterns of birds, maps of locations etc add to clarity of field notes and are strongly encouraged. Think of the timing of when you are likely to see animals: go to the wetlands prior to mid-October if you want to catch any migrating waterbirds, head out after a rain or snowfall to look for tracks in the snow or soft mud. The key is to try to find as many different species of birds and mammals as possible, and to carefully document the techniques used to find them and locations of where they occurred.

I encourage you to go out in groups, as it will be more fun, and you will likely see more with more eyes looking. It also helps when there are several people trying to identify species you see. However, keep the conversation down, or you won't see anything.. Each person should keep their own notebook records. Notebooks - You will be expected to keep a detailed field notebook, which will be handed in for marking at the end of the term. The notebook should be small and portable, with pages that do NOT easily come out. Some examples will be brought to class. Write-in-the-Rain notebooks or Surveyors notebooks are available in the bookstore (I prefer the surveyors’ ones personally), and elsewhere around town (e.g. both IRL and CFE forestry supply companies sells these and other hard/softcover field books). Small spiralbound notebooks are acceptable, but not particularly good field books as they don’t tend to stand up to much wear and tear. If you use a spiral bound notebook, it must not exceed 5 x 7 inch (12 x 18 cm) size and should not contain more than about 100 pages - duotangs, binders etc of 8.5 x 11 inch paper are NOT acceptable.

AS NOT ADHERING TO THE SIZE RESTRICTION ON NOTEBOOKS CREATE SO MUCH DIFFICULTY DURING MARKING, WE WILL BE DEDUCTING MARKS FOR NOTEBOOKS THAT DO NOT MEET THE ABOVE

GUIDELINES.


WHAT TO RECORD IN NOTEBOOKS 1. Start each outing with a date, where the trip is conducted, and the weather. You should keep detailed

record of the times of each observation and the circumstances. Sketches of birds, mammals or signs showing identifying marks are also very useful, especially if you have to look these up later for ids. You can either draw small maps with a day’s observations, or provide a larger more detailed map in the back of notebook and make references to the locations of animals they see with respect to locations on the map. The latter is handy if you go back to the same area more than once, and some areas (e.g. Eskers, Forest for the World have maps for visitors that you can just paste into the back of the notebook). On these maps, you can identify the routes you walked, and the locations of different kinds of habitats. Google earth is also a good source of maps around PG, as the resolution is very high for PG airphotos.

2. Habitats - Animals are often associated with particular types of habitat. It is very important, therefore, that they keep records of not just what they see, but where they have seen it.

3. Summaries - Any animals that you find must be identified down to species (or as close as you can possibly get). They must have scientific names included in your write-ups. These should be included as a list at the end of a day's excursion, rather than trying to do this in the field. Do these in tabular format noting: common name, scientific name and microhabitat in which the animal was found. In addition, you should summarize the general habitat you are surveying on any given day. If you are going to the same place on more than one occasion, you can make one general summary of the site in the BACK of your field book, and reference locations on your daily notes. If that is the case, it would be worth adding a column for dates on which particular species are seen.

Table 1. Example of summaries that should be included at the end of observations. Date: 20 Sept 2006 Location: Hudson’s Bay

Slough, PG Time: 9:00-10:00am

Common Name Number Scientific Name Microhabitat Green winged teal 5 males,

7 females Anas crecca Wetlands

Black-capped chickadee 6 in flock Poecile atricapillus Forest edge along trail Etc……

Your Field Notebooks may be brought to the lab for quick checks by your TA or myself. Use this to show us how you are setting up the notebook and how you are taking notes. This is informal, and is to catch any obvious problems, rather than

assessment of content. The onus will be on you to do this, rather than a formal call by the TA.

Notebooks are due Nov 18 in Lab.


15 October, 2006

Greenway Trail behind University

Time: 8am-9am

Weather: slightly overcast, light rain yesterday, 10˚C

[Note – see map of the park and route I typically take in the back of my notebook] General notes – went out with two other people from the course. 8am – start in parking lot. Saw two American robins foraging on the grass in the

picnic area. Colours are relatively faded by comparison with birds I have seen in the spring.

8:15 – as I got to the far edge of the picnic area and entered the woods, we saw a small bird flit from the trunk of a tree to another. Appears to be a small black woodpecker (based on bill shape, and the way it moves vertical up the tree with its tail as a balance). White and black markings on the face (see sketch), relatively short bill. About the size of a sparrow. No red or yellow. I later Id’d this as a female downy woodpecker

8: 20 – found a track in the soft mud from yesterday. Looks a bit like a

small dog print, but had a distinct fifth toe.

Claw marks noticeable on all toes. Two paws always side-by-side, like a bounding gate. 3.7 cm long. Looked it up later, and it appears to be a weasel print. Based on the size, possibly a long-tailed weasel.

Black crown and cheek

White back, white spots on black wings

White belly

Figure 1. Example of a page from a notebook. If you can’t ID something in the field, leave yourself enough space to write in what it was AFTER the fact.


EQUIPMENT YOU SHOULD TAKE OUT WITH YOU WHEN YOU GO OUT: 1. Field Notebook- Don’t go out without this! Notes should be taken in the field, rather than

trying to summarize your observations later. Examples of how to take daily field notes are given in Figure 1 (previous page).

2. Plastic Bags – carry a few zip-locks, or make sure that the bags tie at the top. These are handy if you find things like feathers, dung (icky) or other evidence of animals that you want to bring back for later identification. You should not be collecting vertebrate specimens that you find (even already dead animals) unless you are planning to bring them directly to the University to donate to the collection. Anything of that nature must be brought to the instructor as soon as possible – do not keep them in your home freezers etc until the next lab. The University has a collection permit, which is necessary to have if you are in possession of wild animals – otherwise you can be charged with poaching or unlawful possession of wildlife and be pretty heavily fined. If you are bringing the specimen directly to the University or another permit holding agency (e.g. Ministry of Environment office) you will be ok, but not if you are taking it home to bring in at some later date. If you find a particularly good specimen, but do not want to transport it yourself, take detailed notes of where it is and give these to the instructor. If you find something, but it is too late to bring it straight up to the University that day, either leave it or make sure to bring it directly in the next day.

Try not to touch any animal specimens directly. Small rodents, like mice, can carry hantavirus. Birds can be carriers of salmonella or avian flu. There are a host of potential diseases contractible to humans on both birds and mammals. Invert the bag on your hand, pick the item up and then close the bag around it. If you find dead crows, jays or chickadees (all species particularly susceptible to West Nile Virus) make sure you use this technique, even though the virus is only suppose to transmit through the transfer of blood (e.g. mosquito feeds on bird, then on you). If in doubt, leave it! It is better to take detailed notes for identifying later than to pick up something you feel uncomfortable with.

3. Small ruler – if you find tracks, sketch them in your field book for identification. A small 15cm ruler is handy for measuring the width and breadth of the track, and in some cases may be the only way to distinguish which of the related species made the track (especially for distinguishing things like squirrels and mice or among various weasels). Many field books have a small ruler printed on the side.

4. Field Guides – it is much easier to check ids in the field than when you get back. Take your bird guide with you. If you have mammal guides, you might want to take those along too, but tracks are easier to draw out and bring back to check later than are swiftly moving birds!

5. Binoculars – almost essential items to any wildlife biologist. If you are planning to continue in the field, you will want to buy your own pair. As long as there is at least one pair of binoculars within your group, you will be fine. If you want to buy your own, binoculars range in price from $20 to over $1500, so there is a lot of variety to choose from. If you want advice on what to buy, you can come and ask me and I will try to make a couple of suggestions for whatever price range and usage that you plan to use them for. Bushnell make some compact binoculars (8x20) that are not bad starter binoculars, are quite inexpensive (about $30), and are available at a number of stores in town, including Cosco, London Drugs, Canadian Tire and various sporting goods stores. There are a number of better binoculars ranging from price from $100 to 200, and I can give you advice on what to look for.

6. Camera - these are handy for taking pictures of tracks, marks or even live animals. They can also be used to document different kinds of habitats. Cameras on cell phones work particularly well for taking pictures of carcasses or scat that you don’t want to touch – just make sure to put something in the frame to give you a sense of scale.


Lab 2 – Introduction to Birds and Orders Gaviiformes through Anseriformes.

CLADISTICS AND TAXONOMIES All organisms are hierarchically classified based on their presumed evolutionary lineages. Species that are more similar to one another (both morphologically and biochemically) appear closer on the branching lineages of phylogenetic trees. In addition, these similar species will be more likely to belong in the same taxonomic categories. The traditional divisions of these categories are:

Kingdom – Phylum – Class – Order – Family – Genus – Species

Organisms that are in the same species are most similar to each other, and get progressively more dissimilar as they move up the taxonomic grouping towards Kingdom. For example, all multicellular organisms are in the Kingdom “Animalia” ranging from sea slugs to humans. However, sea slugs and humans diverge at the level of Phylum, with sea slugs being in the invertebrates, and humans in the vertebrates (chordate). Birds and Mammals diverge at the level of Class; birds are in the Class Aves, Mammals in the Mammalia. From there, the more similar two species are (such as different species of sparrows), the more likely they are to be grouped into the same taxonomic groups. For example, song sparrows diverge from white-throated sparrows at the level of Genus, they are both in the Order Passeriformes (song birds), and in the Family Emberizidae (the sparrows). However, they are different Genuses, as they are not very closely related sparrows. However, white-throated sparrows and white-crowned sparrows ARE closely related. They are in the same Genus (Zonotrichia) and only diverge at the species level (they are said to be sister species). The same pattern could be done for mammals in the chart below, comparing long-tailed weasels and closely related mink, which are both in the same Genus (Mustela) and diverge only at species. By comparison, they are in the same Order (Carnivora) as Grizzly bears, but in different families. Beavers are not even in the same Order, but rather in the Rodentia (rodents). Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus species Common

name Bird Animalia Chordata Aves Gaviiformes Gaviidae Gavia immer Common loon Bird Animalia Chordata Aves Passeriformes Emberizidae Melospiza melodia Song sparrow Bird Animalia Chordata Aves Passeriformes Emberizidae Zonotrichia albicollis White-throated

sparrow Bird Animalia Chordata Aves Passeriformes Emberizidae Zonotrichia leucophrys White-crowned

sparrow Mammal Animalia Chordata Mammalia Rodentia Castoridae Castor canadensis beaver Mammal Animalia Chordata Mammalia Carnivora Ursidae Ursus arctos Grizzly bear Mammal Animalia Chordata Mammalia Carnivora Mustelidae Mustela frenata Long-tailed

weasel Mammal Animalia Chordata Mammalia Carnivora Mustelidae Mustela Vison Mink Conventions – Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order and Family are all typically capitalized. Genus is capitalized, but species is not. The two-name combination of the Genus species (which are always italicized or underlined) is the official name of each species, based on the Linnaean nomenclatural system. Historically, divisions between groups, and deciding what categories they fell into (e.g. whether something was a “sparrow” or not) was based largely on morphology – what the animal looked like, its bone structure, internal physiology etc. Since the 1980s, much of this classification has increasingly turned to genetic techniques that allow researchers to compare the genetic and biochemical similarity between living species, and many of the changes in scientific names etc are based on new and more refined genetic research. The class Aves is characterized by numerous features that make a bird a bird, and not something else. All birds (and only birds) have feathers; this is the primary distinguishing feature of the group. In addition, all birds lay yolked eggs – while other groups (reptiles) also lay eggs, birds are the only group of major vertebrates in which no species bears live young. Birds lack teeth, but rather have a horny bill covering their jaws. Birds are


bipedal, moving on ground on their back legs. The front limbs in all species are specialized into wings – even among birds that are flightless, wings are retained and the forelimbs not used for other modes of terrestrial locomotion. Birds as a group are generally small sized, even the largest extant species (Ostriches) are small by comparison with the largest mammals (blue whales). There are also other features of the group (e.g. digitigrade foot structure etc) that also are characteristic of most birds, but the above list gives a pretty good diagnostic picture of what constitute a bird. Bird Topography In order to identify any animal in the field, you need to know the names of the outer body parts (Figures 1, 2 and 3 – from Handbook of Bird Biology). In birds, this is largely the names of the major feather tracts, as differences in colours of feathers often follow these feather tracts. Below are pictures of the major parts of the bird, which you should know.

Figure 1 – Names for body regions on birds

Figure 2 – Names of feather tract regions on the head


Figure 3 – Feather tracts of the wing and tail


Figure 4. Common configurations of the feet of birds (part 1 – taken from the Manual of Ornithology)


Figure 5. Common configurations of the feet of birds (part 1 – taken from the Manual of Ornithology)


Field Identification Tips When you see a bird in the field in your binoculars:

• Start systematically at the bill and work your way towards the tail. 1. I start by looking at the bill – is it straight, hooked, long, short, thin, broad, etc? 2. Then look at the head. Are there any obvious colour patterns, and if so what feather tracts are they

associated with (e.g. supercillium stripes, crown stripes, malar stripes, throat colours). Note the colour of the head and location of any noticeable colours.

3. Then move to the throat and chest, looking for things like striping, spots, no spots etc. 4. What colour is the back and wings? Are their any colours patterns on the wing feather tracts (primary

coverts, secondary coverts, scapulars etc). 5. Then move to the rump and tail, noting any colours there. 6. Finally look at the legs and feet – is this a perching bird or not, are the feet webbed. Are the legs long

and slender, short and thick? What colour are the legs and feet? 7. Make mental notes of all this, or if you are with a friend, call them out and have them make the

notations. In any case, get this info down as fast as you can before you forget it. The more detail you can gather, the easier it is to identify the bird later with field guides.

PHOTO BY RUTH SULLIVAN

1

2

3

4 5

6


ORDERS AND FAMILIES OF BIRDS A fantastic resource for this course is the Patuxent Bird Indentification Centre (http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/infocenter.html). This is an online list of all the birds that occur in North America, and includes all the Orders, Families and species we will cover in this course (all birds are in the Class Aves, so I haven’t included Class here). The link is to a list of species – if you click on the names of the species, it gives you a brief blurb on each, and some pictures. Many of the pictures of birds in the various families of Passerines that are included here come from that list. All the drawings are taken from the Appendix in Gill’s Ornithology. All names in bold (Order, Family, Subfamily etc) and those species in bold font, are ones you need to know. You should be able to identify these particular species by sight (adult male breeding plumage). You should, however, be able to identify that a non-bolded species in this list belongs to a particular group (although you won’t have to be able to give its specific species name). You are required to know the formal names for Orders down through Subfamilies and tribes, but you need only learn the common names (not scientific names) for the bird and mammal species.

* denotes that the bird is found locally in Central BC (so keep an eye open for them). Order: Gaviiformes (Loons) Loons are fairly stocky diving birds, with stout, chisel shaped bills. They have stocky necks and large heads compared with grebes (below). Their feet are webbed and the shins are laterally compressed (flattened side to side). Legs tend to be placed far back on the body, as these birds are typically swimming when not flying, and this placement is very efficient for propulsion. However, it makes they rather awkward walkers. They are piscovores (fish eaters).

Males and females look the same, and plumages are much brighter during the breeding season (duller in the winter). Among the different species we have in BC, look specifically at the throat colour, cap colour and patterns of colour on the head to distinguish between the species.

Family: Gaviidae (Loons) Common Loon (Gavia immer) * Pacific Loon (Gavia pacifica) * Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata) Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii)

Order: Podicipediformes (Grebes) Grebes are small to medium sized diving water birds. They have stocky bodies, but the neck is more slender than that typical of loons. Heads are smaller than loons, and the bill tends to be more slender. The toes are lobed, and the tarsi are laterally compressed (looks like the are squished on the sides so that they have a creased edge to the shin). These birds tend to spend most of their time swimming, and their feet are located far back on the body to accommodate this, making them poor walkers on land. The claws on the toes are usually flattened, like fingernails. Tails are very short, often looking like they don’t have a tail at all.

Males and females often have similar plumage, and some species acquire very distinctive breeding plumages which help in telling them apart. During the winter, plumages are drabber and it is a bit more tricky to distinguish between them (pay particular attention to the pattern of white and dark markings around the face and throat, particularly how much white is on the cheeks).


Family: Podicipedidae (Grebes) Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) * Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus) * Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) * Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) * Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) *

Order: Procellariiformes (Tube-nosed Swimmers) All members of this order are oceanic birds that nest on islands or coastal areas. The “tube-nose” refers to the two separate nares (nostrils) that form “tubes” on the top of the bill. These birds, along with many oceanic species, have specialized salt glands in the head that extract salt from sea water the birds drink, and this hyperconcentrated salt solution is forcibly ejected from the nares (gulls also do this). In addition, these birds have a strong sense of smell (not common in birds), and can locate fish shoals etc at a fair distance. They often use this to find fishing boats that are dumping chum.

All Procellariids have a similar body design, resembling gulls (although gulls are in a totally different Order, the Charadriformes), but with much longer wings. Procellariids are extremely well adapted for long-distance flight, with very long wing lengths which are used primarily in soaring. Lift is created by riding wind updrafts that deflect off of waves, and Procellariids can fly for hours without flapping their wings. These are among the world record holders for flying – Albatrosses (which are the largest species in this Order and can be fitted with satellite transmitters) have been known to circle the entire Antarctic ocean multiple times in a given year.

There are three Families in this Order. Diomedeidae (Albratrosses) contain the larger species (wing spans of nearly 4m in Wandering Albatross). Albatrosses nest on islands, often in colonies, and nests are generally a shallow depression in the ground. Pairs mate for life, and these are extremely long-lived birds (20 years plus). Procellariidae (Shearwaters, Fulmars and Petrels) are intermediate size, about the size of gulls. Fulmars are the largest, then Shearwaters then Petrels. Hydrobatidae (Storm petrels) are the smallest group. Least storm-petrels are 15cm long. Storm-petrels also nest in burrows dug into grassy areas on coasts.

Family Diomedeidae (Albatrosses) Black-footed Alabtross (Phoebastria nigripes) Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus)

Family: Procellariidae (Shearwaters and Petrels) Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) Mottled Petrel (Pterodroma inexpectata) Pink-footed Shearwater (Puffinus creatopus) Flesh-footed Shearwater (Puffinus carneipes) Buller’s Shearwater (Puffinus bulleri) Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) Short-tailed Shearwater (Puffinus tenuirostris) Black-vented Shearwater (Puffinus opisthomelas)

Family: Hydrobatidae (Storm-Petrels) Fork-tailed Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma furcata) Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa)


Order: Pelecaniformes (Totipalmate Swimmers) Totipalmate means that all four toes (three forward facing and one rear facing) are webbed and the web is continuous between all toes. All the birds in this order are piscivores (fish eaters), and the order is characterized by birds having an enlarged and flexible gular pouch (the fold of skin below the bill that is most noticeable on pelicans). All species dive for fish, scooping up water in the mouth along with the fish, then contracting the gular pouch to push the water out and keep the fish in the mouth. Both Families have species that are either oceanic or freshwater, although Phalacrocoracids (cormorants) tend to be more oceanic. Phalacrocoradics tend to surface dive for fish. Pelicans fly over water and dive from heights beak-first into shoals of fish. The gular pouch expands and slows the birds during the dives as they scoop enormous volumes of water and fish into the pouch.

Family: Pelicanidae (Pelicans) American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) * Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

Family: Phalacrocoracidae (Cormorants) Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) *

Brandt's Cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus)

Order: Ciconiiformes (Herons, Ibises, Storks and Allies) Traditionally, this Order was the long-legged wading birds, but recent DNA evidence suggest that New-world vultures (Cathartidae) are more closely related to Storks than they are to the Old-World vultures found in Africa, despite similarities in appearance.

Ardeidae (Bitterns and Herons) have long dagger-like bills and long necks, which they use for rapidly darting forward to grasp prey (fish, frogs, small rodents etc). Only Anhingas, a tropical species, actually spear fish with the bill – all other Ardeids grab prey using the bill like chop-sticks. Legs are very long, and toes long and splayed, allowing the weight to be distributed over large areas. Some species have such large toes that they can walk on surface vegetation like lily-pads. Most are slow-stalking or sit-and-wait predators.

Carthidae (American Vultures) have long curved bills and resemble raptors. They lack feathers on the heads, and are primarily scavengers. This group also has a acute sense of smell and use this to locate carrion. Feet are weak, unlike raptors, and not designed for striking prey. Wings very long and designed for soaring. Characteristically fly with wings angled above body in a V-shape (called dihedral).

Family: Ardeidae (Bitterns and Herons) American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) * Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) * Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) * Green Heron (Butorides virescens) Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

Family: Cathartidae (American Vultures) Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) *


Order: Anseriformes (Screamers, Swans, Geese and Ducks) These are waterbirds with flattened bills and webbed feet (rear toe, or halux) is not webbed, only the front three toes, a condition called “palmate”. The Family Anatidae contains all the species, including the Swans, Geese and Ducks. To dinstinguish between these groups, they are further subdivided into Subfamilies and Tribes.

Subfamily Anserinae (Geese and Swans) contain the larger species in the Order, and all birds in this group have vegetarian diets. All birds in this group are also sexually monomorphic, meaning males and females have similar plumage. Geese are in the Anserini tribe, and contain large bodied Anseriformes that have shorter necks than swans, but longer than ducks, and are primarily terrestrial grazers (forage on grasses etc). Swans (Tribe Cygnini) are the largest species, and very long-necked. They forage on aquatic plants by putting their head underwater while the body remains on the surface.

Subfamily Anatinae are the Ducks. Generally short necked and smaller bodied than the Anserinae. Ducks are also sexually dimorphic – males and females have different plumage with males often having very bright and dramatic colour patterns that are used in mating displays. Females tend to have more cryptic plumage, probably associated with trying to remain unseen while incubating eggs. There are numerous tribes in the Anatinae. Cairini are the tree or perching ducks. These ducks are often seen perching in trees, and nest in tree cavities (one of the groups that will use duck boxes). All members of this tribe have iridescent feathers on their entire back – great distinguishing characteristic. Anatini are the dabbling ducks, so named as they tip forward to put their heads underwater to feed on aquatic plants, having their rumps and feet bobbing on the water surface. Most species have a square patch of iridescent feathers on the wing (speculum) and the colour differs between species (great way to tell females apart). Aythyini are the Polchards, which are large diving ducks that completely submerge when diving for vegetation. These birds typically have to “run” across the surface of the water as they flap to get airborne. Males of all species have a black chest contrasting a white belly in breeding plumage. Mergini contains the Eiders, Scoters, buffleheads, goldeneyes and Mergansers. Eiders and Scoters are large sea ducks that breed primarily in the arctic. Buffleheads and golden-eyes are fairly common small freshwater ducks, and nest in tree cavities. Mergansers are fish-eaters, and have long-thin bills for ducks, which are serrated to enhance the ability to hang onto the fish. Oxini are the stiff-tailed ducks, so called as they hold their tail feathers erect and pointing upwards. Only the Ruddy duck in North America is in this family.

Family: Anatidae (Swans, Geese and Ducks) Subfamily: Anserinae (Geese and Swans)

Tribe: Anserini Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) * Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) * Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons)*

Emperor Goose (Chen canagica) Ross' Goose (Chen rossii) Brant (Branta bernicla)


Tribe: Cygnini Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) * Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus)

SubFamily: Anatinae (Ducks) Tribe: Cairini (perching ducks)

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) * Tribe: Anatini (dabbling ducks)

American Wigeon (Anas americana) * Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) * Green-Winged Teal (Anas crecca) * Gadwall (Anas strepera)* Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) * Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors) * Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera) Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) * Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) *

Tribe: Aythyini (Polchards) Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)* Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)* Redhead (Aythya americana) * Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) * Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) Greater Scaup (Aythya marila) *

Tribe: Mergini (Eiders, Sea ducks and Mergansers) Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) * Common Goldeneye (Bucephala

clangula) * Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala

islandica) * Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes

cucullatus) * Common Merganser (Mergus

merganser) * Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus

serrator) * Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) * White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca) * Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra) Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) * Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus

histrionicus) Tribe: Oxyini (stiff-tailed ducks)

Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) *


Lab 3 - Falconiformes, Galliformes, Gruiformes, Charadriiformes, and Columbiformes

Order: Falconiformes (Diurnal Birds of Prey) The Falconiformes includes hawks, eagles, kites, falcons –the day-hunting (diurnal) predatory birds. There are several shared characteristics within the family, one of which is the presence of a hooked bill and strong feet with talon claws. Vultures (Cathartidae) share the hooked bill, as do the predatory shrikes (songbirds in the family Laniidae). However, both of these groups lack the strong legs and taloned feet found in Falconiformes. Owls (Strigiformes) also share the hooked bill and strong, taloned feet, and are also predacious, but have other differentiating features from Falconiformes, not the least of which is that they are predominately nocturnal hunters. This feature may allow the two groups to live side-by-side while minimizing competition between species (e.g. occupying different niches). This group (along with Owls) is reverse size dimorphic (meaning males are smaller than females). There are two families within the Falconiformes, the Accipitridae and the Falconidae. The Accipitridae is further subdivided into two subfamilies – the Pandioninae, which includes only the Osprey, and the Accipitrinae, which include around here the eagles and various groups of hawks. Ospreys are found worldwide, being one of the few bird species found on every continent other than Antarctica. They are piscivores and have specially modified scales on the foot that make the foot feel very rough, which aid in holding onto fish in the talons. The Accipitrinae (Eagles and Hawks) are typically delineated into groups based on the Genus names. Aquila are the “true eagles”, and Haliaeetus are the “sea eagles”. Both are large bodied hawks with large bills. Golden Eagles are typically seen inland, and usually associated with mountains, where they nest. Bald Eagles are more commonly associated with water, either inland or on the coast, and both fish and scavenge. There is some overlapping plumage characteristics of juvenile golden and bald eagles, but a good distinguishing characteristic is that the feathers on golden eagles extend right down the tarsi onto the foot, whereas the tarsi of bald eagles is bare (check out the eagle on display in the stairs to the lab building and see whether it is a juvenile golden or bald). Hawks in this region are typically grouped into either the Buteos or the Accipiters. Accipiters are forest hawks that specialize on birds as prey. They often snatch their prey in flight out of the air. They have evolved a body plan that is efficient for flying in dense vegetation (forests) where maneuverability is key – they have relatively short rounded wings and long tails to use as rudders. As their wings are fairly short, they aren’t as good at soaring; if seen crossing openings, Accipiters typically glide a bit interspersed with flapping of the wings. By comparison, Buteo hawks are open-country hawks, and are the ones typically seen sitting on fence posts beside highways. Fairly large bodied, Buteos typically hunt by soaring above openings. Their wings are proportionately longer, and their tails proportionately smaller than Accipiters. The tail is typically fanned in flight. The Falconidae are the Falcons, but also include the Caracaras from the southern US and central America. Falcons have wings that are sharply pointed at the tips, an adaptation for very rapid flight. They are predators on other birds, taking them in mid-flight, often by high-speed aerial dives


that end with the falcon hitting its prey with its talons. Most prey are killed by the impact. Falcons also have a characteristic “tooth” on the upper mandible of the beak, which is not found in the Accipitridae. This is thought to help in breaking the neck of prey if it isn’t killed on impact (the birds bring it to the bill and bite the neck at the base of the skull). Most Falcons have vertical stripes before and/or behind the eye.

Family: Accipitridae (Hawks, Kites, Eagles and Allies) Subfamily: Pandioninae (Ospreys)

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)* Subfamily: Accipitrinae (Kites, Eagles, and Hawks)

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) * Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)* Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)* Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) * Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)* Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)* Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus)* Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)* Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)*

Family: Falconidae (Caracaras and Falcons) American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) * Merlin (Falco columbarius) * Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) * Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus)

Order: Galliformes (Gallinaceous Birds) The Galliformes are primarily ground dwelling species, with very high reproductive rates. They are ground nesters, females are extremely cryptic in colour patterns. Have precocial young (meaning young hatch from eggs fully feathered and capable of walking almost immediately). As a result, care of young is fairly easy, as young learn to feed themselves very quickly, and leave the nest early simply following the female around. As a result, there is very little male effort in parental care, and males and females often differ greatly in appearance. Males develop elaborate plumages and displays for attracting females, and the birds are highly polygynous (males really only contribute sperm to parental effort, using much more of their energy in fighting and displaying to attract multiple females). There are two families, the Phasianidae and the Odontophoridae (the latter are the smaller quails, which often have feather tufts on the head in both males and females). These species are both prized game birds, and are often introduced into areas for hunting. Several of the species found in BC are transplants from Europe and Asia. Surprisingly, introduced pheasants and partridges etc don’t appear to negatively affect resident species in the same manner as many other introduced species – they appear to be effectively neutral. Both species of Quail found in BC are introduced.

Family: Phasianidae (Partridges, Grouse, Turkeys, and Old World Quail)

Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) * Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) * Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) * White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus) * Blue Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) * Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) Chukar (Alectoris chukar) - Introduced Gray Partridge (Perdix perdix) - Introduced


Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) - Introduced Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) - Introduced

Family: Odontophoridae (Quail) California Quail (Callipepla californica) - Introduced Mountain Quail (Oreotyx pictus) - Introduced

Order: Gruiformes (Rails, Cranes and Allies) Typically associated with marsh lands (although Cranes are also found out in more grass areas). Rails waders that are typically associated with reed-beds around marshes, and are very shy. You are more likely to encounter these through hearing their calls than you are to see these. Coots are the most aquatic of the group, and are often seen swimming among other waterbirds, like ducks. They have lobed toes to aid in swimming, similar to grebes. The upper bill of coots has a fleshy extension onto the forehead, called a forehead shield. American coots have a red dot here, Eurasian coots have a white shield. Cranes are tall with long necks and long legs. They are most easily confused with Herons, and are often found in overlapping habitats. Sandhill Cranes are much larger than our largest heron (the Great Blue Heron), and Cranes have patches of red plumage on the head not seen in Herons. In flight, Cranes stretch (or “crane”) their necks, while Herons fold the neck in an s-curve so that the head rests on the shoulders as they fly.

Family: Rallidae (Rails, Gallinules and Coots) Sora (Porzana carolina) * American Coot (Fulica americana) * King Rail (Rallus elegans) Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola)

Family: Gruidae (Cranes) Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) * Whooping Crane (Grus Americana)


Order: Charadriiformes (Shorebirds, Gulls, Auks and Allies) This is a very large order grouping families of coastal waterbirds. Some families have species that occur inland, and some (Kildeers) are often more associated with open, short grasslands and edges than they are with lakes and water edge. Most of the birds in this family however, are associated with water, and some (Alcids) are highly specialized for underwater “flying” using their wings to propel them as they chase fish. Typically have precocial young – Lariids and Alcids are probably the families most dependent on early parental feeding, and especially in the Alcids the parents will make long trips from offshore feeding grounds back to the nest burrows. The Charadriidae are small wading birds with long legs and fairly short bills. Most of the birds in this family have distinct black and white contrasting markings – either back versus belly, or large dark stripes on the face and neck. Young are highly precocial, nests are simple scrapes in the rocky gravel. Haemotopodidae (Oystercatchers) are named for their pink-red legs and feet. Long bills are flattened laterally (side to side) and are inserted into bivalves to pry them open. Associated with shorelines where the birds dart among the rocks looking for oysters and clams etc. Recurvirostridae – very long-legged and large wading birds with recurved bills (tip angles upwards rather than downwards). Black-stilts just finger up into the lower part of BC on the coast. Avocets are found on the prairies during migration, but again not likely to see these around north central BC. Scolopacidae – this is one of the larger groups, and includes all the sandpipers and allies. It is a very difficult group to distinguish among the species. All are long-legged waders with bills used for probing into the ground to feed on invertebrates. Many have similar colours of browns/greys above with pale bellies. The trick for distinguishing the sandpipers is to note the relative length of the bill (do this by measuring its length relative to the depth of the head – back of head to base of bill). Assess length as a multiple of head depth (0.5 X, 1.0X, 1.5X, 3.0X….). Look to see if the bill is straight, or has a slight downcurve. Note if there is any markings on the head, particularly how distinct the supercilliary stripe is, and whether there is an obvious dark band extending from the bill through the eye onto the auriculars. Note any patches of rusty colouring on the body, and where these occur. Make special not (especially on small non-descript sandpipers) whether there is striping, spotting or no markings on the belly and throat. Finally note the colour and relative length of the legs – these range from pink, yellow black and blue-grey. Phalaropes are the most obvious in this group as the FEM ALES have very vibrant colours. In this group, MALES sit on the eggs and raise the young, FEMALES display and compete over males (this is called sex-role reversal). Laridae – the gulls. Another tricky group. Note the size of the bird (gulls essentially fall into three broad size categories based on the length of time in years before juveniles moult into adult breeding plumage. Two year gulls are the smallest, three-year gulls are intermediate in size, and four-year gulls are the largest). Things to note – colour of the bill (some are black, some are yellow, some red); whether or not there is a red dot or black band on the bill; the amount of black on the upper wing (whether it is just at the tips or over the majority of the wing); colour of the legs (pink, yellow or black). Some species (such as Bonopart’s gulls) have entirely black heads, making it easier to spot them. Terns are smaller than gulls and have a proportionately longer bill, tail and wings. Bills are typically red, and the


birds often have a black cap. Terns fly over open water and dive for surface fish. Finally, the Alcidae – these are stocky, largely oceanic birds. They include auks, auklets, puffins, murres, guillemots and murrelets. They all nest colonially, either on cliffs or burrows along the sea-edge (only some of the murrelets nest inland, and some nest in old-growth trees!). All are oceanic piscivores and dive after fish.

Family: Charadriidae (Lapwings and Plovers) Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) * Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) * Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) *

Family: Haematopodidae (Oystercatchers) Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani)

Family: Recurvirostridae (Stilts and Avocets) - Don't really occur around here

American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)

Family: Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Phalaropes and Allies) Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia)* Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)* Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)* Red Knot (Calidris canutus) Sanderling (Calidris alba) Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri) * Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) * Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)* Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) Dunlin (Calidris alpina) * Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) * Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) * Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) * Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus) Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus) * Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa) Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala) Surfbird (Aphriza virgata) Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) Wilson's Phalarope (Palaropus tricolor) * Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicaria) *

Family: Laridae (Skuas, Gulls, Terns and Skimmers) Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) * Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) * Bonaparte's Gull (Larus philadelphia) * California Gull (Larus californicus) Mew Gull (Larus canus) Thayer's Gull (Larus thayeri) Western Gull (Larus occidentalis) Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia) Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) * Black Tern (Chlidonias niger) *

Family: Alcidae (Auks, Murres and Puffins) Common Murre (Uria aalge) Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata)


Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columbia) Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) Ancient Murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus) Cassin's Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata)

Order: Columbiformes (Sandgrouse, Pigeons and Doves) Columbiformes includes the pigeons and the doves. Pigeons is the common name used for the larger species in the group, doves for the smaller. Doves also tend to have slightly longer necks and tapered tails. All are grain, seed, or fruit eaters.

Family: Columbidae (Pigeons and Doves) Rock Dove (Columba livia) * Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) * Band-tailed Pigeon (Columba fasciata) Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) – introduced *

Exercise: Flying Hawks and Shorebird Silhouettes Hawks in Flight - note characteristics of: relative size of tail; whether tail fanned (buteos) or held straight (accipiters); shape of wings; soaring or flapping flight; colour of underwing coverts and belly patterns (allows you to distinguish between various buteos); Striping on tail; wings held straight or in dihedrals. Go through the outlines of flying hawks in their field guides, then try the hawk flight pictures. I found a great website by a photographer named Brian Wheeler, who has published a book on how to identify north American hawks in flight. It is on the virtual birder site (http://www.virtualbirder.com/) under the specific heading: http://www.virtualbirder.com/vbirder/gallery/index.html. There are also other shots of hawks in flight at this location, as well as a ton of other amazing photos.


Lab 4 - Strigiformes , Caprimulgiformes, Apodiformes, Coraciiformes, Piciformes.

Order: Strigiformes (Owls) (you will be responsible for knowing bolded species by call, as well as visually) Owls are typically nocturnal hunters, although some species (e.g. Pygmy owls, short-eared owls, Northern Hawk owls) are day hunters. Owls have exceptional sense of hearing, facilitated by the asymmetric placement of their ears in the skull. We have skulls that we will place out, and you should note this characteristic. Having one ear placed higher than the other on either side of the head allows the bird to hear slight differences in sound traveling from above or below the bird. Coupled with being able to distinguish sound from side to side (by having ears on opposite sides of the head), the birds can pinpoint the 3 dimensional location of sound sources. Owls also have relatively silent flight compared to other birds. This is facilitated by reduced suturing of the barbules on the leading edge of the wing, giving it a frayed appearance, as well as hair-like extensions on the upper surface of the vane that allow the wings to move past one another without creating a rubbing sound. This makes owls extremely good night predators, as they don’t alert their prey. Most owls hunt by tracking prey while perched, and then pouncing on it. Pygmy-owls prey on small birds, and will also catch these in flight. Only short-eared owls hunt by actively flying over fields looking for rodents. All owls are predatory, most hunt small rodents. Several species will also take small birds, and great horned owls will take things as large as snowshoe hares (or domestic pets, so be careful letting cats out at night). There are two families in the Order, Tytonidae with includes the barn owls, and Strigidae, which includes all other owls that occur in BC. Tytonidae owls have a characteristic heart-shaped face not seen in the facial disks of the Strigidae owls.

Family: Tytonidae (Barn-Owls) Barn Owl (Tyto alba)

Family: Strigidae (Typical Owls) Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)* Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula)* Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium gnoma)* Barred Owl (Strix varia)* Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa)* Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)* Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)* Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus)* Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus)* Western Screech-Owl (Otus kennicottii) Flammulated Owl (Otus fammeolus) Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca) Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis)

Learning Owl Calls - There is a really nice webpage (http://www.owlpages.com/n_american_owls.html) that has photos of owls and wave files of their calls. This is how most ids on owls will likely occur in the field – hearing them is more common than seeing them.


Order: Caprimulgiformes (Goatsuckers, Oilbirds and Allies) The members of this order are aerial insectivores. They tend to be cryptically coloured, probably an adaptation to the fact that they often perch on the ground and nest by scraping a nest right in the dirt. They have long pointed wings typical of rapid flyers, and are commonly seen flying over large open fields at dusk Members of this family have very large mouths, which are lined with bristle feathers. They catch insects in flight, and the bristles help direct prey into the mouth and also give sensory information about position of the prey in the mouth to the bird. Night jars include things like whip-poor-wills of eastern North America, and common poorwills finger into the lower Okanagan, but the most common member of this Order and Family in BC is the Common Nighthawk. Key distinguishing character in flight is the broad white underwing bar on both males and females. Males also have a white throat, whereas this is brown on females.

Family: Caprimulgidae (Night Jars)

Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor)* Common Poorwill (Phalaenoptilius nuttalli)

(incidentally, Common Nighthawks can often be seen flying over the fields of College Heights highschool).

Order: Apodiformes (Swifts and Hummingbirds) Apodiformes contains two families that you wouldn’t normally think were related – Swifts and Hummingbirds. Genetic and morphological similarities, however, confirm this relationship. Hummingbirds (Family Trochilidae) are small nectivores and only found in the Nearctic and Neotropics. They have a unique structure to their shoulder girdle that allows them to hover, fly both forwards and backwards or up and down similar to a helicopter. No other group of birds can do this. In Africa and Asia/Australia, the sunbirds look extremely similar to hummingbirds and occupy the same feeding niche (nectivores with long bills for inserting into flowers), but they can’t however continuously like hummingbirds. Rather, they perch on the stalk of the plant to insert the bill into the flower. The brilliant iridescent feathers on the throat of males is called a “gorget”, and is used in display. Males defend patches of flower from which females come to feed. As far as I know, all species in the family are highly polygynous and females do all the care of young. Nests are usually made of moss held together with cobwebs. Young are fed on insects, particularly mosquitoes, which are also a large part of adult diet until flowers bloom (so be nice to hummingbirds). Swifts look superficially like swallows (a song bird). They are often described as cigars with wings, as this is the profile they give in flight. Aerial insectivores like Caprimulgids and swallows, they have similar long wings with pointed tips, but are smaller than nighthawks. The swifts also have bristles around their mouths and catch insects in flight. They are often seen flying at dusk over open fields, often quite high in the air. They have extremely weak feet, and rest at night by flying into cavities (like caves or hollow trees) and perching on the vertical surface. All four of their toes face forward (called Pamprodactyl), and they essentially grasp the surface of the rock and dangle while sleeping. They roost in large colonies both during nesting and in migration. In North America, famous colonies are found in the eastern Chimney Swift, which have taken to nesting in the brick chimneys of old buildings. Wolfville, NS (town


where Acadia University is) has a huge colony that roosts in an old chimney on the edge of campus. When they knocked the old building down, they left the chimney standing for the swifts, and it is now a little park. During fall migration 1996 at the college I taught at in central Kansas, my students and I counted about 2000-2500 swifts enter the college’s central chimney during a 30minute period at dusk to roost overnight.

Family: Trochilidae (Hummingbirds) Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)* Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) * Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

Family: Apodidae (Swifts) Black Swift (Cypseloides niger)* Vaux's Swift (Chaetura vauxi) White-throated Swift (Aeronautes saxatalis)

Order: Coraciiformes (Rollers, Motmots, Kingfishers and Allies) In North America, this family is restricted to the Kingfishers, and there is only one species in the entire of North America (and it unfortunately isn’t the one I managed to find this nice drawing of – this is a pied kingfisher from Africa). In North America, we have the rather large belted kingfisher (lower photo). Alcedinidae (Kingfishers) are piscivores primarily, but will also eat things like frogs. They have long heavy bills pointed at the tip, and typically fly over rivers or perch on trees near the bank looking for fish on the surface. They dive from flight headfirst with wings folded onto the surface to grab fish. Kingfishers have very strong feet, and use these in excavating very long burrows into sandy banks along river edges, where they nest. Belted Kingfishers – you can tell the sexes apart by looking at the belly – males like the one pictured have a blue band across the chest, females also have this blue band but also have a broad rust-coloured band across the belly below this.

Family: Alcedinidae (Kingfishers) Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)*


Order: Piciformes (Puffbirds, Toucans, Woodpeckers & Allies) There is growing debate about the affiliations of the birds lumped into this Order, most notably whether the Toucans should be consider a separate Order. However, in North America, we only have to deal with the Woodpeckers in this Order – Family Picidae. Woodpeckers have strong chisel-like bills used for hammering into tree bark. The birds feed on bark-boring insects that have larvae below the barks surface (such as Pine beetles – several species in North America, such as the black-backed and three-toed woodpeckers specialize on these, and a lot of the other species around here at the moment are taking advantage of the current abundance. If you see a pine killed by beetles and the bark has been stripped off in large chunks or completely, that is the work of woodpeckers). The birds have specialized tongues that extend out far past the end of the bill. Many have back-facing barbs or sticky appendages on the tips, and they dart these into the holes they create with their bills to grab larvae. Woodpeckers have specialization of the foot and tail for moving vertically on the trunks of trees. First the foot has zygodactyl toe placement, which means toe toes face forward, and two backwards. This allows for very strong gripping on the tree bark. In addition, the central rachis of the retrices (tail feathers) are reinforced and exceptionally stiff. The birds push the tail against the trunk of the tree to use as a brace. In many species, males and females can be distinguished by the presence of extra red or yellow feather patches on the heads of males. Sapsuckers are a subgroup that also have a light yellowish wash on the feathers of the breast and belly. The species in the sapsuckers drill grids of holes into trees that causes the sap to flow out – the name comes from the old view that they ate the sap (as they do this on sugar maple trees, you could see where this assumption comes from). However, the sap also is sticky and both attracts and traps insects – it is probably as much a factor that they are using the sap to catch insects.

Family: Picidae (Woodpeckers and Allies) Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)* Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)* Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis) Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)* Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)* Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus)* Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus)* Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)* Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)* Lewis' Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis)


Lab 5 - Passeriformes I (Passerine Birds) We will be going through the individual families in these two labs much as we have done with Orders in the previous labs. I have also substituted in photos in place of the line drawings here, so that we have representation from each family. There are 24 families in the Passerines in BC, so we will split this into two labs (12 families in each lab) Order: Passeriformes The passerines are linked by a couple of common features – first, all possess a specialized foot structure that allows them to easily perch on tree branches. This consists of a long tendon that runs from the leg muscles over the tarsus and bifurcates at the toes, linking backwards onto the halux and forward onto the three forward facing toes. When the bird lands and bends its leg to perch, this stretches the tendon over the tarsus and effectively closes the toes around the branch. As long as the bird is perched and putting its weight on its legs, this causes the feet to grip the perch. As a result, the birds can sleep while perching. The second feature of passerines is that (with the possible exception of Tyrannidae), passerines must learn their species-characteristic songs, they are not instinctively “known”. Among the other families and orders of birds, individuals raised in isolation make fairly typical adult vocalizations. Passerines raised in isolation are largely unable to make the species-typical song. Family: Tyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers) - you will need to know the calls of the listed species Tyrannidae (or Tyrant) flycatchers are aerial insectivores that “hawk” insects from the air; they sit on perches and shoot out on short flights to grab the passing insect. Have a large amount of bristles around the base of the bill associated with grabbing flying insects. Flycatchers in the Genus Empidonax are so similar physically that most can not be distinguished by eye alone. All are olive-coloured backs, have two light wingbars on the greater covert feathers, and distinct white eye-rings. Luckily, these flycatchers are extremely vocal, males call incessantly during the summer with simple but extremely species specific calls. We will put examples of these calls on the student lab folders, and you will have to be able to identify the calls of the bolded species for quizzes.

Hammonds Flycatcher (Empidonax hammondii) * Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum) * Dusky Flycatcher (Empidonax oberholseri) * Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus) * Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii) * Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris) Pacific Slope Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis) Cordilleran Flycatcher (Empidonax occidentalis) Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) * Western Wood-Peewee (Contopus sordidulus) Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya) Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis)

Family: Laniidae (Shrikes) Heavy bodied birds about the size of robins. Typically have a broad black band through the eyes (or “mask”). Two north American species (loggerhead and northern shrikes) are grey on the scapulars, cap and back and have black wings and tails, and are white below. All species are predacious, and have strong hooked bills. Prey range from small birds, rodents to insects. The birds lack the strong feet of raptors or owls, and so killing is done with the beak. Shrikes often impale prey on thorns, which may serve the dual function of killing them, as well as marking territories and displaying to mates.

Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor) * Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)


Family: Vireonidae (Vireos) Small, fairly non-descript birds mostly olive or grey backs and wings, and white bellies. All species either have characteristically large eye rings with the white of these feathers extending over the lores to the base of the bill giving them the appearance of “spectacles”, or have white superciliary stripes with dark line running through the eye. Bills of vireos tend to be shorter and stouter than the warblers, which is probably the family with most similar looking species.

Nests of vireos are fairly easy to distinguish from other species. The birds weave and open-cup nests into the space in-between the ‘Y’ of a branching limb. The top of the nest is level with the branch, the cup hangs down into the air.

Cassin’s Vireo (Vireo cassinii) * Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) * Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) * Hutton's Vireo (Vireo huttoni)

Family: Corvidae (Crows and Jays) Ravens are the largest members of this Family, followed by crows and magpies. In North America, there are a number of different Jay species and also a nutcracker species in this family. Crows and ravens can be distinguished by size; ravens also have much heavier bills, loose feathers create a tuft on the upper have heavy bills and throat (hackles). In flight, the trailing edge of crow tails are rounded, whereas ravens are wedge-shaped. Magpies are distinguished by their long tails and white patches on the wings, they are also typically smaller than crows. In BC, the crows found on the coast are a distinct species from the American Crow found in Prince George. These coastal crows are smaller and have a slightly harsher sounding call, and are called Northwestern Crows.

Jays are smaller than crows, ravens and magpies, and have a much greater diversity of colour to the plumage. They often have iridescent or structural blues, as well as other colours. Clark’s nutcrackers (the only nutcracker in north America) resemble jays but have a proportionately longer bill.

Corvids are fairly social, often traveling in groups. Many species are also very good at spatial and memory tasks, which likely stems from them being scater hoarders of seeds and other prey. Largely generalist in feeding, they have an omnivorous diet.

Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) * Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) * Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) * Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica) * American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) * Northwestern Crow (Corvus caurinus) Common Raven (Corvus corax) *


Family: Alaudidae (Larks) Larks are open country birds, and primarily forage on the ground where they nest and spend most of their time. They are seed and insect eaters. In North America, the only native lark is the horned lark, which has a characteristic pair of feather tufts on the crown making the “horn”. European sky larks were introduced onto Vancouver Island, and there are now resident populations in the Victoria area. Sky larks are famous for their elaborate burbling calls that are given while hovering above the ground in mid air. They will even continue singing while being chased by accipiter hawks.

Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) * Sky Lark (Alauda arvensis) - introduced

Family: Hirundinidae (Swallows) Swallows are aerial insectivores, and show a fair amount of convergent morphology with other aerial insectivores like swifts and nighthawks. The wings are long and pointed, and the birds are extremely rapid flyers. Wings are generally shorter than those of swifts (good distinguishing characteristic of swifts versus swallows in flight is that the length of one wing is roughly equal to the body and tail length in swallows, but longer than the body/tail in swifts). Feet are fairly small, but these birds are actual perchers, unlike swifts. Swallows typically have forked tails, and the outer tail feather of some species are very elongated to make deep forks (e.g. barn swallows).

Tree and Violet-green swallows nest in tree cavities, and take readily to nestboxes. Barn swallows and cliff swallows make nests of mud, which they cement to vertical structures or ledges, either in cliffs or buildings.

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) * Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) * Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) * Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)

Family: Paridae (Chickadees and Titmice) The most important family of birds worldwide! In BC, only chickadees are found (titmice are larger and are found further south). Small social birds that occupy tight flocks. Flocks are typically made up of an older breeding pair, and several subordinate and unrelated juvenile pairs. All chickadees have a contrasting dark cap with white cheek patches and a dark bib. Tails are relatively long, and wings short and rounded, typical of a forest dwelling species. Specialized tendon structure in the legs allows chickadees to perch upside-down without the foot opening up, so the birds are often seen hanging upside-down from branches.

All chickadees are cavity nesters, and excavate the cavity themselves in rotten snags, or use cavities excavated by other chickadees or nuthatches. Two clades occur in BC – the ‘brown-capped’ chickadees which include the chestnut-backed and boreal chickadees, and the ‘black-capped’ chickadees – the black-capped and the mountain chickadees.

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) * Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) * Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus) * Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)


Family: Aegithalidae (Long-tailed Tits and Bushtits) Bushtits – the only north American species in this family - are related to chickadees, but differ in that they do not use tree cavity nests, rather they construct and elaborate weaved nest that hangs like a large sock from bushes. The entrance hole is near the top. In BC these occur only in the lower coastal part of the province, around Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Bushtits travel in very tight flocks, which are typically extended family units. Typically seen in open and edge habitat, they are quite common in suburbs, parks and golf courses. Males and females are similar in appearance and resemble small, dusty grey chickadees. The only distinguishing feature between the males and females is that they have different coloured irises in their eyes – males have brown irises, females have golden yellow. Bushtits are one of two cooperatively breeding species that occur in the province, the other being the pygmy nuthatch (below). This means that more than a single male and female aid in provisioning for the young in the nest, the breeding pair typically have “helpers” which are adult offspring that help take care of a new brood of young.

Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)

Family: Sittidae (Nuthatches) Fairly closely affiliated with titmice, nuthatches have shorter tails and longer bills. They differ in their foraging mode as well. While chickadees glean leaves and branches for insect prey, nuthatches have elongated feet and strong claws for moving vertically down the trunk probing the bark for insects. White breasted nuthatches are the largest species, and are more prevalent in the southern interior, but pairs have been found breeding in Cottonwood Island park. The red-breasted (pictured) is the most common nuthatch in the area. This species has a distinct white supercilliary stripe separating a black eye-stripe and a black crown, slate grey back and rufous belly. Nuthatches are cavity nesters, and like black-capped chickadees excavate their nests from rotting snags with very soft wood. Have a very characteristic nasal call.

Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) * White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) * Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea)


Family: Certhiidae (Creepers) In north America, only a single species in this family – the brown creeper. Small birds with mottled brown backs and a long decurved bill. Forage by climbing vertically up tree trunks (good way to distinguish these from nuthatches is that creepers creep up, while nuthatches climb down the trunk). Typical pattern is to see a bird fly in a descending path to the base of a tree and then start creeping its way up the trunk as it searches for insects. Tail feathers are stiff, similar to that of woodpeckers and used as a brace against the tree. Nests are constructed from plant material underneath hanging bark on dead trees, and is typically very well concealed

Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) *

Family: Troglodytidae (Wrens) Relatively small sized and ‘chunky’ birds, most are brown above, some species have superciliary stripes that are quite noticable. Typically have a slightly decurved bill, and tails are often held erect, especially during singing. Quite amazing songsters, and some species (winter wrens) have incredibly complex songs of burbling notes. Remarkably loud for their size, and highly territorial.

Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) * Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) * House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) Canyon Wren (Catherpes mexicanus) Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Family: Cinclidae (Dippers) Dippers occur along rapid moving streams. They are thrush-sized and have very short wings and tail, but quite long legs. Sooty grey colour all over. Dippers feed on aquatic insect larva, which they obtain by wading and even diving into streams for. They will completely submerge and walk along stream bottoms to take prey from under rocks and in eddies behind rocks.

American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) *


Lab 6 – Passerines II Family: Regulidae (Kinglets) Kinglets are the smallest Passerines in North America. The two species in the family are small with olive-grey backs and prominent white wing bars. They have small bills (smaller than vireos and flycatchers to which they look most similar). Ruby-crowned kinglets have a prominent eye ring, and a patch of bright red feathers on the crown that are partially covered with grey feathers unless the crown is erected in display. Golden-crowned kinglets have eye rings, but also have a dark eye stripe bordering a white supercilliary stripe, and a bright golden crown stripe. This is visible all the time and is the best distinguishing feature of the bird (nearly identical European species is called a “firecrest”). Both birds fly out from trees and briefly hover at the tips of branches where they forage.

Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) * Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) *

Family: Turdidae (Thrushes) Ground feeding species with robust legs and narrow, notched bill. They feed on fruit and insects. Thrushes are very well known as songsters, the American robin having a very complex song than can contain hundreds of different syllables. The two forest thrushes – Hermit and Swainson’s thrushes – have a flute-like quality to their song. Both thrushes are a similar drab brown in appearance, but Hermit thrushes have a rusty orange colour to the rump and tail that is lacking in the Swainson’s. Bluebird feathers have structural blue properties, and the differences between species reflect the amount of blue in the body, and whether the breast is red (Western) or not (Mountain).

American Robin (Turdus migratorius) * Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) * Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus) * Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius) * Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) * Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana) Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi) *


Family: Mimidae (Mockingbirds and Thrashers) Catbirds, so named because of the “meow-like” call they give, are the only members of this family in BC. This group also contains the mockingbirds and the thrashers. The name for the family comes largely from the mockingbirds, which are found in lower US states – these birds have very complex songs that include the mimicking of other species and even inanimate objects (train whistles, car horns etc). Gray catbirds also appear to do this to a lesser extent. The species is slate grey with darker wings, tail and cap. The outer rump feathers have a red patch. Wings are short and rounded, tail is fairly long.

Gray Catbird (Dumtella carolinensis) Family: Sturnidae (Starlings and Mynas) Both species in BC are introduced. Starlings were introduced from Europe into Central Park, NY in the 1890s, at the same that Crested Mynas were introduced into Vancouver from Asia. Both are cavity nesters, but rely on other species (like woodpeckers) to make their cavities. Starlings are extremely aggressive in taking over cavities, and breed very well in North America, and spread out to cover pretty much the entire continent. Crested Mynas did not transplant as well, had poorer breeding success in the more northern climate, and essentially never got out of Vancouver. Numbers peaked in the 1920s, when there were reported to be in the thousands. In the mid 1980s, there were perhaps 500 pairs in all of North America, but with the influx of starlings into the city, myna numbers dropped dramatically, and they are now thought to have essentially died out. Starlings and mynas are excellent mimics. The birds song consists of enormous repertoires of song types that range from novel songs, mimics of other species, imitations of sounds like car horns and rusty gate hinges and a host of things the birds hear during the period of song acquisition. Both starling and mynas can be taught to mimic human words and are fairly popular cage bird pets. Starlings have iridescent black plumage with light spotting (which reflects UV, so appears as strong constrasting spots to the birds themselves) with a bright yellow bill. Crested mynas are black with ruffled forehead feathers above their yellow bill, but the most distinguishing characteristic is bright white spots on the upper and lower wing when the bird is in flight. If you see a “starling” with those white patches in Vancouver, report it to the Royal BC Museum, as it might just well be the last of the Crested Mynas in BC.

European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) * Crested Myna (Acridotheres cristatellus)

Family: Motacillidae (Wagtails and Pipits) Pipits and wagtails are most easily distinguish by their long tails and the tendency for the birds to bob them up and down as they stand on the ground or walk (which is where the “wagtails” comes from). American pipits are common here in spring and fall migration, often occurring in large flocks. In addition to the tail bobbing, the birds have white outer tail feathers, that sharply contrast against dark inner tail feathers in flight (similar dark-eyed juncos in the Emberizidae, but otherwise the two species don’t look much alike). Close inspection shows that they have a long halux claw, not uncommon in species that are primarily ground dwellers.

American Pipit (Anthus rubescens) *


Family: Bombycillidae (Waxwings) Waxwings are fruit-eating birds (Frugivores) that get their name from the bright waxy colours on the tips of the secondary wing feathers and tail. Cedar waxwings have red tips on the wings, Bohemian waxwings have red on the secondary tips and yellow on the primaries as well. Both species have yellow tips to the tail. The feathers are very soft looking, and the birds have prominent crests on the crown and black eye masks and bibs. Bohemian waxwings are a very common and abundant winter resident in Prince George, where large flocks (50plus birds) are not uncommon to see decending onto mountain ash trees in suburban neighbourhoods where the birds pick and eat all the waxy red berries. Cedar waxwings breed locally, but are less common in the winter and in the large flocks of wintering bohemians.

Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) * Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) *

Family: Parulidae (Wood-Warblers) An extremely diverse family of insectivorous birds that are endemic to the New World. 57 species are listed in North America alone. Most of this diversity occurs in eastern North America, where it isn’t uncommon to have large numbers of species in the same area (there are 33 breeding species in Ontario for example). Western north America has a relatively depauperate fauna by comparison, as there are only 14 species (15 if you include the yellow-breasted chat that just fingers into the southern interior from its distribution in the US). Most of the warblers have bright plumage badges of constrasting colours, often with a lot of yellows and reds. The colours and the positions of these on the bird are the key factor in distinguishing among the various species. If you see a small bird with yellow wash to it at this time of year, it is likely a fall migrating warbler. Unfortunately, the striking breeding plumages of males in the spring is gone at this time of year, and it makes species id a lot harder! In lab, we will be presenting specimens of males in breeding plumage, this is what you should be looking at for identifications.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)* Northern Waterthrush (Seirus noveboracensis)* American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)* McGillivray's Warbler (Oporornis tolmiei)* Townsend's Warbler (Dendroica townsendi)* Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia)* Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata)* Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia) Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)* Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla)* Tennessee Warbler (Vermivora peregrina)* Magnolia Warbler (Dendroica tigrina)* Black-throated Gray Warbler (Dendroica nigrescens) Blackpoll Warbler (Dendroica striata)*


Family: Thraupidae (Tanagers) Fruit eating birds related to warblers, but much larger bodied. In BC, we have only one representative species, the western tanager. These however are very striking – bright yellow body, jet black wings and tail with a white wingbar and red forehead, check and chin on males. Come through in large numbers in the spring migration, and some breed locally (picture at right is a shot taken downtown).

Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana)*

Family: Emberizidae (Emberizids) Another of the “frustrating” groups for birds, the sparrows (which also included birds under the common names of juncos, longspurs, buntings and towhees). Most members of this diverse group are ground dwelling seed eaters. They have short conical bills associated with seed crushing, but this typically aren’t quite as “pointy” as seen in finches (Fringilidae, below). Also, plumage in the sparrows is typically browns, greys and other melanin based colours; although some species do have yellow plumage patches as well, these aren’t as prominent as carotenoid base plumages in the Fringilids. When trying to id sparrows, pay particular attention to the patterns of colours on the face and head (this is where knowing your facial topography of birds is critical), as well as noting whether the breast is streaked, spotted or unmarked. Note any distinctive colour patches, especially things like black patches on the breast and throat (bibs) and contrasting black and white striping. Nesting in sparrows is as varied as their plumages, ranging form birds that nest on the ground to the tops of trees. However, almost all species are open-cup nesters – none in BC nest in cavities, unlike the Old World sparrows (Passeridae).

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)* Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus)* Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)* Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca)* Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)* Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii)* Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)* White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)* Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)* Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)* Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus) Smith's Longspur (Calcarius pictus) Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis)*wintering


Family: Cardinalidae (Cardinals) The birds in this family were formerly lumped into the Fringillidae, and have only been separated into their own family again in the last decade, mainly on recent genetic evidence that they form a distinct group. They are the large billed finch-like birds, most with quite striking colours, which distinguish them from most of the true finches. There are three species in BC, two of which occur largely in the Okanagan (Black-headed grosbeak and Lazuli bunting) and one which occurs primarily in the Peace region (Rose-breasted Grosbeak). Although the Rose-breasted Grosbeak does appear in PG during migration (at least I have seen them here), and Lazuli buntings are known in the area, none of these could be classified as common in the area. As a result, this family is a “free-bee”, you don’t have to know either the family or any of the species.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) Black-Headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena)

Family: Icteridae (Blackbirds) Blackbirds feed on insects and seeds, and have long and very tapered bills that come to a fine point. Red-winged blackbirds and brewers blackbirds are the “archetypical” blackbird of the area, both with satin black plumage and associated with open country and marshes. Black birds travel in enormous mixed species flocks on wintering grounds that can number in the thousands of birds. In spring, they are often breeding in marshes or open grasslands.

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)* Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) * Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus)* Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus)* Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)* Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)* Bullock's Oriole (Icterus bullockii)


Family: Fringillidae (Fringilline and Cardueline Finches and Allies) Seed eaters like the sparrows and cardinals, Fringillids typically have a more conical bill, and often have red or yellow carotinoid-based plumage associated with their brown plumages. Finches as a group also tend to have a more northerly distribution than sparrows (although species from both families breed in the arctic). This makes finches generally less migratory, and many finches gather into large flocks and winter in Prince George. It is fairly common to find large flocks of pine siskins, and especially common redpolls in PG on the Christmas Bird Count, whereas sparrows are pretty uncommon. Finches tend to have forked tails, which are a good character to look for in flight. In addition, they have what is termed undulating flight, as the bird appears to bob up and down in a wave-like fashion. This is due to the typical flight behavior of the bird flapping rapidly several times to gain some lift (upward part of the flight), followed by gliding (downward part) and repeating this over and over.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte tephrocotis)* Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator)* Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus)* Cassin's Finch (Carpodacus cassinii) House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)* White-winged Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera)* Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) Hoary Redpoll (Carduelis hornemanni) Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus)* Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus)*

Family: Passeridae (Old World Sparrows) Like starlings, house sparrows are a European transplant. These birds have taken extremely well to North America, but only in urbanized areas. It is rare to find house sparrows outside of cities in North America. However, they are extremely common within cities and appear to flourish in habited areas (just go to Superstore and look around the parking lot). Also differ from Emberizids in that House Sparrows are cavity nesters and take readily to nestboxes.

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)*


Lab 7 - Skulls, dentition & measurements, Marsupalia, Insectivora & Chiroptera

Congratulations, you have made it through the birds. Now we are on to the mammals. However, while there are less mammals to learn, they are often more difficult to locate in the field. Further, mammals are often detected more by evidence they leave behind that seeing the live version (especially when you compare them to the birds). As a result, we are going to learn some of the fundamentals about tracks, as well as look at the skulls of mammals – the two most common forms of evidence that you will find of mammals. All mammals can be identified by their skull characteristics, so we will be focusing on learning the different attributes of the skulls of different families and species. Skull identification is a critically important skill in identifying mammalian specimens; a well-trained biologist can often identify not only the species, but the sex and age of a specimen from a partial skull. In today’s lab, we will be investigating the general features of the skull and teeth, as well as some of the common measurements that people take when looking at skulls. Bones of the Skull

Saggital Crest

Parietal

Frontal Foramina (Foraminus, sing)

Maxilla

Premaxilla

Dentary

Occipital

Auditory Bulla

Coronoid Fossa

Squamosal Jugal


Measurements of the Skull There are a number of fairly standardized measurements for the skull. In some species, taking these measurements may help distinguish between very similar species (such as comparing the skulls of some of the smaller weasels. Measurements are taken in a strait line between two reference points, and should be recorded in millimeters. When handling skulls, be very care not to damage them – calipers should be closed to fit snuggly, but be careful not to crush the bone.

Diastema

a. Basal Length b. Basilar Length

d. Diastema Length

c. Greatest Length

f. Breadth of Braincase

h. Mastoid Breadth

e. Postorbital Constriction

g. Zygomatic Breadth

ab

cd

Bat Vole

fh

e g


Basilar Length - posterior margins of the alveoli of the upper incisors to the anterior-most point on

the lower border of the foramen magnum. Basal Length – anterior edge of the premaxillae to the anterior-most point on the lower border of the

foramen magnum. Diastema Length – posterior margin of alveolus of last incisor present to anterior margin of alveolus

of first cheek tooth present Postorbital Constriction – least distance across the top of the skull posterior to the postorbital

process. Breadth of Braincase – greatest width across the braincase posterior to the zygomatic arches Zygomatic Breadth – greatest distance between the outer margin of the zygomatic arches Mastoid Breadth – greatest width of skull including the mastoid Mandibular Diastema – same as for Diastema length (above, but measured on lower jaw Mandibular Length – greatest length of the mandible, usually excluding teeth Mandibular Tooth Row – length from anterior edge of alveolus of canine or first cheek tooth to

posterior edge of alveolus of last tooth. The incisor is not included in this measurement.

Dentition Most mammals are diphyodont, having only two sets of teeth. The deciduous, or milk teeth, present in immature mammals are usually replaced by a set of permanent teeth that are retained for life. The patters of tooth eruption and replacement can often be used to age animals until all permanent teeth are present.

a. Mandibular Diastema

b. Mandibular Length

c. Mandibular Tooth Row

a.c.

b.


Teeth in mammals are measured in quadrants of the jaw. Drawing a line straight through the middle of the palate from the back to front of head, you describe the number of teeth on each half of either the upper and lower jaw. This is short-hand, and the teeth are normally matched on either side of the head (e.g. same number of molars on the upper left as upper right of the mouth). However, the number of teeth in each category can differ between the upper and lower jaw. Kinds of Teeth Incisors – rooted in the premaxillary bone, and the corresponding teeth in the lower jaw. Placenetal

mammals never have more then thee incisors in each jaw quadrant, but marsupials may have up to five in each half of the upper and lower jaw.

These teeth are generally chisel-shaped and function primarily for nipping. In artiodactylids (cattle and deer), the incisors are missing from the upper jaw, and nipping is done against a horny plate on the upper jaw and the lower incisors. In gnawing rodents (Rodentia), there is a reduction in the number of incisors (one in each quadrant of the jaw)

Canines – the most anterior teeth routed in the maxilla, and the corresponding teeth of the lower jaw.

Never number more than one per quadrant. Typically long, conspicuous, unicuspid (single rounded point) and have a single root. Used to capture, hold and kill prey, these are often reduced or absent in herbivores.

Premolars – situated posterior to the canines and differ from molars in having deciduous predecessors (your first “cheek teeth” as a kid are actually premolars).

Molars – situated posterior to the premolars, and do not have deciduous predecessors. Molars either

have a upper surface described as bunodont. The crowns of the bunodont teeth oppose each other directly and the entire upper surface is shielded in enamel. Lophodont teeth have cusps fused to form elongated ridges. Selenodont molars function in a similar manner, but in each ridge is formed by the elongation of a single cusp. The ridges of selenodont teeth are cresent-shaped and longitudinally oriented.

Bunodont (Raccoon)


Selenodont (Mule Deer)

Lophodont (Porcupine)


Dental Formulae You will typically see descriptions of dental formulae in mammals (such as the one below for wolves, Canis lupus, below) with a series of numbers, such as: 3 1 4 2 3 1 4 3 This is a shorthand method of describing the number of each kind of teeth found on one side of the upper and lower jaw. The long hand version of this would be written: Incisors 3 – 3 canines 1-1 premolars 4 – 4 molars 2 – 2 3 – 3 1-1 4 – 4 2 – 2 The upper numbers indicate the number of teeth on each side of the midline of the upper jaw, the lower numbers are the number of teeth of each type on either side of the midline on the lower jaw. As the number of teeth of each type is identical on each side of the head (e.g. bilateral symmetry), they often just describe the number of teeth on one side of the jaw.

Therefore, the second number after the dash is usually dropped, and the various teeth are also often represented by their initial, or simply with no initial and assuming that you go in order from Incisor, Canine, Premolar, Molar. I 3 C 1 P 4 M 2 or 3 1 4 2 3 1 4 3 3 1 4 2 If there are no teeth in a particular category, then you simply indicated this with a zero. For example, Norway rats (like most rodents) have only one incisor in either side of the midline in both the upper and lower jaws, have no canines or premolars, and three molars on either side of the midline on both the upper and lower jaw. Their dental formula is thus written: I 1 C 0 P 0 M 3 or 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 3 In some species, like seals, the Premolars and Molars are difficult to distinguish, so sometimes they are grouped as P+M in dental formulae. For example: Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina): I 3 C 1 P+M 5 3 1 5


ORDERS AND FAMILIES OF MAMMALS This list includes the recognized species which occur in BC. You will be responsible for identifying and knowing the names for Class, Subclass, Order, and Family of all groups. As there are far fewer total species of mammals in BC than birds, you will also be responsible for identifying and knowing the common names of ALL representatives from each family that occur in Northern BC, and one representative member of those families not occurring in Northern BC – these are marked in BOLD. Based on Cannings, R.A. & Harcombe, A.P., eds (1990) The vertebrates of British Columbia;

scientific and English names. Royal BC Museum Heritage Record No. 20.. Resources: Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection has an online manual for identifying small mammals of BC. This is excellent – it has info on every species except those in the larger Orders (Artiodactyla, Carnivora and Cetacea). This document not only has pictures of the specimens, but also gives some of their life history, drawings of their skulls and range maps. It is an excellent resource and the best thing is that is made available for free! I have put a copy of the pdf file onto the lab folder in the portfolio on Studept. http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/techpub/id_keys_s.pdf There is also a great webpage with photos of animal skulls from Idaho which might be helpful (although not all the species in BC are shown, it will definitely give you some access to the more common species, and has photos of the skulls rather than just drawings). - http://www.surweb.org/search/cover_page.asp?cid=163 CLASS: Mammalia SubClass: Metatheria – the marsupials. Marsupials have a different development process, and different placental attachment of the embryo to the maternal blood supply, which we will discuss in class. There is only one metatherian in North America, the North American Opossum. Order Marupialia

Family Didelphidae: New World Opossums There are several other marsupials in central through south America, but the North American Opossum in is the only one in North America. Marsupials have a larger number of teeth, particularly incisors, than do the Eutherian mammals, so you can distinguish the skull of Opossums by 5 incisors on the upper and 4 on the lower jaw. This species has a prehensile tail for grabbing tree branches.

North American Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) Dental Formula: 5 1 3 4 4 1 3 4


SubClass: Eutheria - placental mammals Order: Insectivora - this family, which are insectivores primarily, includes the shrews and moles in BC. Teeth, especially cheek teeth, are relatively undifferentiated in both families, the Moles (Talpidae) and the Shrews (Soricidae). Moles are adapted for fossorial (underground) movement with strong forelimbs and enlarged claws for digging, extremely sensitive noses and whiskers for sensing movement of prey in the dark, and relatively poor eyesight. Skulls are generally longer than shrews and have complete zygomatic arches. Shrews are voracious hunters of insects, invertebrates and sometimes bird chicks. They will tackle prey that may be larger than they are, and have to eat large proportion of their own body weight each day to maintain and extremely high metabolism. All the species are small and have long pointed rostrum (nose) which is flexible at the tip. Skulls are easy to distinguish from moles as shrews lack a zygomatic arch, and the tips of the teeth often have a red pigment to them.

Family Soricidae: Shrews Masked Shrew (Sorex cinereus) * Dusky Shrew (Sorex monticolus) * Water Shrew (Sorex palustrus) * Pygmy Shrew (Sorex hoyi) * Pacific Water Shrew (Sorex bendirii) Arctic Shrew (Sorex arcticus) Trowbridge's Shrew (Sorex trowbridgii) Tundra Shrew (Sorex tundrensis) Vagrant Shrew (Sorex vagrans)

Family: Talpidae. The Moles

Townsend's Mole (Scapanus townsendii) Shrew-mole (Neurotrichus gibbsii) Coast mole (Scapanus orarius)

Shrew skull

Order: Chiroptera. The Bats The Molossidae, or free-tailed bats, have their tail extending past the edge of the flap of skin that joins the tail to the hind limb, the Vespertilionidae (more common bat family in BC) don’t have the tails extending past this point. The Vespertilionids are the family with the most northerly distribution outside the tropics, and are our most common family. Bat skulls are distinguishable from other families and orders by the relatively undifferentiated cheek teet and the large gap at the front of the skull when looking at the skull from the top (dorsal view).

Family Molossidae. Free tailed bats Big Free-tailed Bat (Nyctinomops macrotis)

Family Vespertilionidae

Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus) * Western Long-eared Myotis (Myotis evotis) * Northern Long-eared Myotis (Myotis

septentrionalis) * Long-legged Myotis (Myotis volans) *

Mexican Free-tailed bat


Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus) * Silver-haired Bat (Lasionycteris noctivagens) * Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus) * Pallid Bat (Antrozous pallidus) Spotted Bat (Euderma maculatum) Southern Red Bat (Lasiurus blossevilli) California Myotis (Myotis californicus) Western small-footed Myotis (Myotis ciliolabrum) Keen’s Long-eared Myotis (Myotis keenii) Fringed Myotis (Myotis thysanodes) Yuma Myotis (Myotis yumanensis) Townsend's Big-eared bat (Plecotus townsendii)


Lab 8 - Lagomorpha & Rodentia Order Lagomopha. Rabbits and Pikas Rabbits and Pikas superficially share many features with rodents, such as prominent incisors and a large maxillary and mandibular diastema. However, they also have some notable differences in the skull and dentition, most obvious is a second set of upper incisors (called pegged teeth) that occur behind the first larger pair. This means the dental formula of all Lagomorphs is 2/1 for the Incisors. There are two families in this Order, the Leporidae (Hares and Rabbits) and the Ochontonidae (Pikas). Within the Leporidea, Hares (including jackrabbits) are typically longer-legged and have larger ears than rabbits. Hares do not construct nests, they typically bear their young in shallow scrapes on the ground. The young of hares are precocial – born furred, open eyed and capable of independent movement. As a result, hares spend very little time in parental care. Rabbits make nests, often lined with hair the female plucks from her underside. The nests can be in depressions in the ground (forms), or burrows as in European rabbits (the burrows are called warrens). The young of rabbits are born atricial – no fur, eyes not fully developed and having limited movement. The result is that rabbits are required to provide much more parental care than hares. The two groups also differ in escape tactics – when pursued, rabbits typically seek shelter in burrows or in foliage, while hares tend to freeze and flatten themselves against the ground. If the predator pursues, they take off running in a zigzag pattern that makes capture difficult. Hares also have two annual moults, and in northern species like the Snowshoe hare and the arctic hare, the winter pelage (fur) is white making the animals cryptic. Rabbits do not have this winter moult. Skulls – in addition to having the second set of incisors on the top, Lagomorph skulls tend to have pronounced supraorbital processes (large ridges of bones over the eyesocket when skull viewed from above), and a lot of fenestration (almost lattice-like structure) to the maxilla. The Ochontonidae (Pikas) are smaller and have more rounded ears than the Leporids. Pikas lack a visible tail. They also do not hop like leporids, and have hind legs of similar size and length to the forelegs. They run more akin to a mouse or guinea pig. Pikas live in talus slopes at higher elevations, and build caches of cropped grass for winter food. They are extremely vocal, and will sit on rocks whistling.

Family Leporidae. Hares and Rabbits Snowshoe Hare (Lepus americanus) * White-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus townnsendii) European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) (introduced) Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) (introduced) Nuttall's Cottontail (Sylvilagus nuttallii)

Family Ochontonidae. The Pikas

Common Pika (Ochotona princeps) * Collared Pika (Ochotona collaris)

Snowshoe Hare

Nuttall’s Cottontail

Snowshoe Hare Skull


Dental Formula: 2 0 3 2 Pikas 1 0 2 3 Dental Formula: 2 0 3 3 Rabbits and Hares 1 0 2 3

Pika skull

Pika


Order: Rodentia. The Rodents The rodents are a very diverse group of gnawing rodents (rodere is the latin verb “to gnaw”). This group covers just about every part of the globe, from deserts to the arctic tundras. The main common feature is that all have a single incisor in each of the four quadrants of the skull. These incisors are continuously growing, and the gnawing wears them down at the tips (otherwise, they upper teeth would grow downwards and curve back into lower jaw, and vice versa, a condition called malocclusion, which can kill the animal). The tooth has enamel on the front (which often yellows), and exposed dentine on the back. The enameled front of the incisors on the lower jaw scrape past the dentine on the back of the incisors on the upper jaw, and create a “chiseled” edge. Further gnawing of hard material also wears out the dentine on both sets of teeth faster than the enamel, increasing this chiseled effect, and making these incisors particularly adept for gnawing. Skull architecture, and specifically the attachment of the massetor muscle to the skull, divides mammals into three distinct group: Sciuromorph (squirrel-like), Myomorph, (mouse-like) and Hystricomorph (Porcupine-like). Sciuromorph means that the massetors attach directly to the zygomatic arch, with often has a large flattened area on the underside for muscle attachment. In Myomorph rodents, part of the massetor muscle passes through the eye socket and an enlarged infraorbital foramena to attach to the maxilla. This pattern is even more pronounced in the Hystricomorphs, and the infraorbital foramena is very large to allow the passage of the massetor to attach to the maxilla. This last pattern gives Hystricomorph rodents (like guinea pigs) their characteristic boxy-looking rostrum.

SCIUROMORPH MYOMORPH HYSTRICOMORPH Family Aplondontidae. Consists of a single species, the mountain beaver. These occur only on the coast forest areas of California north to BC. This is a very primitive lineage, and has a sciuromorph skull architecture. The auditory bullae are very elongated, and the first premolars are divided into three pegs. They are fossorial (burrowers). The animal looks a bit like a muskrat with a stubby tail, and the skull has a characteristic triangular shape and is very flat. They have been prized for their pelts in the past, and were used in cloaks among First Nations.

Mountain Beaver (Aplodontia rufa)

Dental Formula: 1 0 2 3 1 0 1 3

Mountain Beaver


Family Arvicolidae (Voles and Lemmings) Voles are extremely common and tend to be more associated with open grassy habitat than forests in which Cricetids are more abundant. Voles and Lemmings (the latter of which are more boreal in distribution) have proportionately shorter tails than Cricetid mice. Voles often make runways between the ground and overlying grass, and will keep these active even in the winter as subnivean (“below snow”) tunnels at ground surface. Skulls – lack premolars on upper and lower jaw. Main distinguishing feature from cricetids and murids, which have same dental pattern, is that the cheek teeth are ever growing (hypsidont) and have what is described as a “prismatic crown” pattern, which can be seen on the muskrat skull depicted below. Prominent boxy-shape to the skull when viewed from above. These are an extremely common component of owl pellets! Lemmings have grooved upper incisors (indentation in the enamel on the front that makes it look like the incisor is creased, and makes two “cusps” on the bottom of the incisor).

Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) * Southern red-backed vole (Clethrionomys gapperi) * Brown Lemming (Lemmus sibiricus) * Northern Bog Lemming (Syanatomys borealis) * Long-tailed vole (Microtus longicaudus) * Meadow Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) * Heather Vole (Phenacomys intermedius) * Northern red-backed vole (Clethrionomys rutilus) Montaine vole (Microtus montanus) Tundra vole (Microtus oeconomus) Creeping Vole (Microtus oregoni) Water vole (Microtus richardsoni) Towsend's Vole (Microtus townsendii)


Muskrat

Red-backed vole

Meadow Vole


Muskrat skull Family: Castoridae – The largest rodent in North America, and only second to the Capybura worldwide in size. The family name derives from two glands at the base of the flat tail, called castoreum, that contain oil used in keeping the fur slick and waterproof. Feet are webbed and provide propulsion, the tail is flat and used as a rudder. Live in lodges that have openings to the water (usually multiple) allowing access to water even when ice is on the surface. Dams ensure that the water is deep enough to not freeze all the way to the bottom. Beavers jam gnawed saplings into the bottom of the ponds, and will feed on the bark during winter. Skull is very large, and has Sciuromorph shape. Large “scoop” on the maxilla also increases attachment of massetor muscles. Cheek teeth have a very characteristic lophodont shape.

Beaver (Castor canadensis) 8 Dental Formula: 1 0 1 3 1 0 1 3


Family: Cricetidae - All the new World mice are in this family, but it also includes hamsters and gerbils. The most prominent of these in BC are the deer mouse and bushy-tailed woodrat. Deer mice differ from house mice (Muridae) in being very two-toned in colour, with a tan back and very white belly and a two-toned tail of the same pattern. Woodrats (or packrats) have very bushy tails, and are famous for collecting strange items (e.g. tooth brushes and toy cars) that they hoard in their nests. Skulls of these look “daintier” than Arvicolids – they lack the prominent post-orbital processes and the rather squarish look when viewed form the top that is characteristic of vole skulls. All individuals also lack premolars – one incisor and three molars on each quadrant of the upper and lower jaw is the total dental formula. In addition, all the molars are rooted and bunodont. The molars are relatively equal in size, and this can be used to distinguish them from the skulls of Murid mice/rats.

Bushy-tailed Woodrat (Neotoma cinerea)* Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) * Keen’s Mouse (Peromyscus keeni) Columbian mouse (Peromyscus oreas) Sitka mouse (Peromyscus sitkensis) Western Harvest Mouse (Reithrodontomys megalois)


Deer mouse

Bushy-tailed woodrat

Family: Erethizontidae - thickset bodies and short legs, porcupines walk with an ungainly gait. Quills are modified, hollow hairs with backward facing barbs at the tips. The feet have wide soles and curved claws for climbing, and porcupines are highly arboreal (tree climbers). Hystricomorph skull pattern. Note also the shape of the check teeth crowns, as these are quite characteristic.

Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) * Dental Formula: 1 0 1 3 1 0 1 3

Porcupine


Porcupine Skull Family: Geomyidae (pocket gophers) – These are fossorial burrowers. They have long claws on short, stocky front limbs. The pocket refers to external fur-lined cheek pouches in which the animals carry roots and tubers to underground larders. The lips close behind the incisors, which allows these animals to gnaw at dirt while burrowing without getting the dirt in their mouths. It also means that the incisors are always visible. On the skull, the nasal bone tends to protrude rather prominently on pocket gophers.

Northern Pocket Gopher (Thomomys talpodes) Dental Formula: 1 0 1 3 1 0 1 3

Family: Heteromyidae – closely related to pocket gophers, pocket mice also have fur-lined external check pouches. They also have very prominent auditory bullae on the underside of the skull, which are used in picking up low frequency sounds. The incisors on the great basin pocket mouse are also grooved on the upper jaw. Nocturnal, they dig shallow holes in loose sand in desert areas – in BC, this means they are found in the great basin area of south central BC. This family includes the more famous Kangaroo mice of the US that have saltorial (jumping) gaits similar to kangaroos, where they derive their common name.

Great Basin Pocket Mouse (Perognathus parvus) Dental Formula: 1 0 1 3 1 0 1 3


Family: Muridae – old world mice, all species in north America are introduced. These include the Norway and black rats – the former is larger bodied and has a proportionately shorter tail (tail length equal to body length). Black rats are smaller, more arboreal, and have a tail longer than their body. The tails of both are largely bare of hair. House mice are smaller, and most likely confused with deer mice. However, they are less two-toned in colour than deer mice. Skulls – all the species have characteristic bunodont teeth, and are myomorphic. Like cricetids, lack premolars. Key distinguishing characteristic from Cricetids is that the first molar is large (about twice the size of the other two molars). Each molar also has three cusped ridges running from front to back.

House Mouse (Mus musculus) introduced * Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus) introduced* Black Rat (Rattus rattus) introduced *


House mouse skull


Family: Sciuridae The squirrel family includes squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks and marmots (woodchucks are also known as common marmots). Most members go into a state of dormancy (hibernation) for the winter. Squirrels are typically arboreal, whereas the rest of the group tend to be more ground-dwelling and burrowing. Ground squirrels and chipmunks both have alternate dark/light striping on the back, but only in chipmunks does this striping extend onto the face. Both dig burrows in which they breed, cached food for the winter and will seek refuge. Marmots are the largest members of the group. Skulls – cheek teeth are all bunodont. Skulls have a very predominant post-orbital process that is appears as sharp “point” when viewing the skull from the top. Also tend to have prounced, and very rounded auditory bullae when viewing the skull from below.

Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) * Hoary Marmot (Marmota caligata) * Woodchuck† (Marmota monax) * Columbian Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus columbianus) * Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus lateralis) * Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)* Yellow-pine Chipmunk (Tamias amoenus) * Least Chipmunk (Tamias minimus) * Yellow-bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris) Vancouver Island Marmot (Marmota vancouverensis) Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) introduced Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) Arctic Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus parryii) Cascade Mantled Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus saturatus) Red-tailed Chipmunk (Tamias ruficaudus) Townsend's Chipmunk (Tamias townsendii) Douglas's Squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglassii)

Dental Formula: 1 0 2 3 1 0 1 3 (only exception is red squirrel, which sometimes has only 1 premolar on the upper jaw). [† - Woodchucks are also known by several other common names, including Groundhog and Common Marmot]

Red squirrel

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Least chipmunk


Hoary marmot

Family: Zapodidae (Jumping Mice) These mice are saltorial, and have very large hind feet and very large tails. They also typically have multicoloured fur, with brownish sides and darker back. Skull- lack premolars on the lower jaw. Large infraorbital foramena (Hystricomorph pattern). Upper incisors are grooved on the front surface.

Western jumping Mouse (Zapus princeps) * Meadow Jumping Mouse (Zapus hudsonicus) * Pacific Jumping Mouse (Zapus trinotatus)


Red squirrel


Western Jumping Mouse


Lab 9 - Carnivora Order Carnivora Essentially, the meat eaters. This is likely to be the Order of mammals that people are most familiar with, as they are the topic of most Nature documentaries (you see a lot more titles like “never cry wolf” than you do “my life among the pocket gophers”). The animals in this family evoke a lot of interest, and part of this is their powerful nature, but also because hunting often involves attributes of social behaviour and “cunning” that we see in our own species. A general characteristic of the skulls is prominent canine teeth and premolars that are specialized in slicing. Among some families, molars are greatly reduced or absent. In other families, which tend towards omnivory, the molars retain the bunodont flattened shape. There are no species in this order with hypsodont molars, all are brachiodont. In this lab, we will focus more on the attributes that distinguish the various families of carnivors in BC. Family: Canidae Highly socially organized. Wolf packs typically consist of a dominant (alpha) pair that are the primary breeders, and a group of subordinate animals. Coyotes and foxes are more solitary, but still usually travel in mated pairs. Canids mate monogamously and often form long-term pair bonds (e.g. often multiple years). Both males and females care for young. Pack hunting allows Canids like wolves to take prey much larger than individual animals. Coyotes and Foxes that do not hunt in packs tend to take smaller prey, such as rodents or rabbits. Skulls of Canids tend to be among the longest in the Carnivora order, and have a very elongated snout. Carnasials are large, but molars are still fairly prominent. Skulls of canids are very similar in appearance, and largely differ between species based on relative size.

Coyote (Canis latrans) * Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) * Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) *


Coyote skull


Family: Felidae Typically solitary animals, males and females don’t make long term pair bonds. Cats, however, are perhaps the most efficient in design for predators. They are extremely graceful, and can achieve very high speeds during chase. They are powerful for their size, and have long retractable claws that allow the tips to be maintained extremely sharp for grasping and holding. The skulls of cats are very typically short from back to front, yet very massive in structure. They have a short biting surface area to the teeth that concentrates the bite pressure, and a large reduction or loss of molars. The carnassials are extremely well developed, and the canines are among the longest and best at piercing in the carnivores. Horny protuberances on the tongue, which gives cat tongues their characteristic raspy feel, are used to scrape meat from bones. All our cats fall into the “Felis” or purring cats group – yes, Cougars apparently purr. Lions, jaguars and other large cats belong to the Panthera group which have a slightly different structure to their voice box and instead roar.

Cougar (Felis concolor) * Lynx (Lynx canadensis) * Bobcat (Lynx rufus)*

Dental Formula: 3 1 3 1 Cougar 3 1 2 1 Dental Formula: 3 1 2 1 Lynx and Bobcats 3 1 2 1

Cougar skull


Family: Mustelidae This is the most diverse family of Carnivores in north America. Mustelidae includes the weasels (which includes the mink, marten, fisher and wolverine), as well as badgers otters and skunks. Most mustelids have relatively long, slender bodies and proportionately short legs. They range in size from the least weasel (about the size of a chipmunk) up to male sea otters which can weigh in at 45kg. Most mustelids possess anal scent glands, and these are best known in the skunk. Weasels also possess very strong, curved claws and both martens and fishers are adept climbers. The fur on mustelids is also exceptionally dense, making their coats very luxurious. This is especially true in the aquatic mustelids, as the density of the fur and oils in their coat make the underfur water resistant, and traps a layer of air close to the body. Rather than blubber, sea otters rely on this trapped air in their coat for insulation, and have the densest fur in the family (and perhaps of any mammal) - over 100,000 hair/inch2. Sea otter pelts are, without doubt, the softest fur you will ever feel. This unfortunately almost led to their demise – furring resulted in the complete extirpation of sea otters in BC waters, and only populations in Alaska and California remained. Release programs have now started repopulating BC waters, with the first release are north of Long Beach on Vancouver Island’s west coast (north of Toffino) being relatively successful. Sea otters can now be found as far south as Barclay Sound. Mustelids have very distinctive skulls, with a large brain case and the teeth and jaws short and very far forward in the elongated skulls. Sagital crests are often prominent. This gives them both a small area over which to spread their biting surface, coupled with a very large area to insert their temporalis muscle. The moral is not to let mustelids bite you. In weasels, the single molar on the top jaw also appears as those it is sitting at a right angle to the carnassial, something that allows you to quickly note that you are dealing with a mustelid. Skunks and otters, which have a more varied diet, tend to have more flattened molars than the other meat-eating mustelids.

Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) River Otter (Lutra canadensis) * Wolverine (Gulo gulo) * Pine Marten (Martes americana) * Fisher (Martes pennanti) * Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis)* Spotted Skunk (Spilogale putorius) Ermine or Short-tailed Weasel (Mustela

ermina)* Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata) * Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis) * Mink (Mustela vison) * Badger (Taxidea taxus)


Dental Formula: 3 1 4 1 Martens, Fishers, wolverines 3 1 4 2 or 3 1 3 1 weasels, mink, badgers, skunks, sea otters 3 1 3 2 or 3 1 4 1 river otters 3 1 3 2

Long-tailed weasel

Pine Marten Skull


Family: Otariidae Otariidae are the eared seals, which includes the sea lions and fur seals. Otariid seals have external pinnae to the “ears” which give them their family name. These, and the Phocidae, have fore and hind limbs that have evolved into flippers for underwater locomotion. This adaptation, and their aquatic lifestyle, has led to them (along with Walruses) to being grouped into a separate order (Pinnipedia) in the past, but genetic evidence suggests that bears and seals are closely related. Fur seals have a dense undercoat to their fur, which is lacking on sea lions. Both groups have a layer of blubber under their skin for insulation, as opposed to the trapped air in the pelts of sea otters (see above). The hind flippers of otariids rotate forward under the body and the sea lions and fur seals can support their body weight off the ground by balancing on the fore and hind flippers. Underwater, propulsion is gained by swimming with the foreflippers, the hind flippers are used as rudders. This is opposite to the Phocidae seals. Skulls – dentition of seals reflects their piscivorous diet – the teeth are largely cusped and peg like, with less differentiation in the cheek teeth than is found in other carnivores.

California Sea Lion (Zalphus californianus) Northern Fur Seal (Callorhinus usrinus) Northern (Steller’s) Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus)

Dental Formula: 3 1 4 2 or 3 1 4 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 4 1

Northern fur Seal

Family: Phocidae The “hair seals”, phocids are fairly ungainly on land. They undulate on their bodies, as their flippers do not support their body weight (a marine biologist I met referred to them as “beach maggots”). Underwater, however, phocids are remarkably graceful. In constrast to otariids, phocids propel themselves through the water with alternating sweeps of the rear-facing hind flippers. The forelimbs are used as rudders/steering devices and brakes, and not for forward propulsion. Phocids have little to no underfur, and lack external ear pinnae, so appear “earless” compared to the otariids. Northern Elephant Seals are the largest members of this group, and males can weigh up to 2200kg and measure 5m in length. Like otariids, phocids have peg-like teeth.

Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina) Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris)



Family: Procyonidae Procyonids (which include the Ringtail and Coati of southern and central America) are nocturnal and very good climbers. They are omnivores, and have very highly dexterity in the front paws. Raccoons often sit on their hind legs and manipulate prey with their forepaws. Pet raccoons can be trained to turn on faucets, and a friend who use to work with the humane society often recounts tales of raccoons “jimmying’ the nut-and-bolt style locks they used on their cages. There are even pictures floating around the internet of raccoons that have learned to milk dairy cows so they can steal the milk. Skull of raccoons as flat molars of the omnivore. In fact, they look remarkably like a very small bear skull. Skull is less rounded than in cats, and the carnassials are more molar-like. More molars than in cats.

Raccoon (Procyon lotor) Dental Formula: 3 1 4 2

3 1 4 2


Family: Ursidae Only two species occur in BC, although there are several subspecies of each. Black bears on the Queen Charlotte Islands, for example, are larger than those on the mainland. Kermode bears (spirit bears) that occur near Terrace are a white morph of the black bear – they are not albino, as they have black noses and eyes. Rather they have a gene in the skin that prevent melanin being deposited in the fur. Bears den in the winter and hibernate. They go through a period of fattening in the fall in preparation of hibernation. During this period, bears feed on high protein/high fat/high sugar food content. Their omniovorous diets help facilitate this, and bears are apparently very very good at assimilating calories out of just about everything they eat – they process plant matter almost as efficiently as some herbivores. Young are born in den sites during hibernation. Grizzly bears have a very concave forhead and face, and this makes their face look broader and their rostrum shorter than black bears. The grizzly has a characteristic “hump” on it back, and much longer and straighter claws than the black bear – grizzlies use their claws primarily for digging, while black bears have shorter more curved claws for climbing. Coat colour is not a good distinguishing feature, as black bears can range from white (Kermode), tan, chocolate brown through jet black in colour. Skulls – bear massive bone structure and large teeth. The premolars and molars are largely flat and used in grinding, making them relatively easy to distinguish among the carnivors (the only family with similar dental characteristics are Procyonids (raccoons) which are thought to be closely related to bears genetically. However, raccoon skulls are much smaller, so it is unlikely that you would find overlap. Often, the premolar numbers vary in individual bears.

Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos) * Black Bear (Ursus americanus) *


Black bear skull


Lab 10 - Artiodactyla Order Artiodactyla The Artiodactyla are the even-toed hoofed mammals. This means that they walk on either two or four toes, as opposed to the Perissodactyla (including horses) that have and odd number of toes (in the horse, this is one). In most of the BC species, the animals have two toes that make contact with the ground in regular walking, but may have two smaller outer toes (called Dewclaws) that occur higher up on the leg and only make contact with the ground when the animal is walking through deep snow or soft mud. All of BC’s Artiodactylids are foregut fermentors (Ruminates). They fall into two Families, the Bovidae (cattle-like) and Cervidae (Deer-like). The main difference between these two groups is that the Bovidae have horns, while the cervidae have antlers. Family: Bovidae This family includes the cattle-like ungulates, which in BC include sheep, mountain goats and bison. All members of this family have horns, which can occur in both sexes but are typically larger in males. True horns are continuously growing and never shed. They are keratinized material (similar to hoofs and fingernails) that is deposited over a bony core extending from the frontal bone of the skull. The horn is not living tissue, and material is added from the base. The age of animals, especially bighorn or dall’s sheep can be estimated from the length of the horns due to their continuous growth pattern. Thinhorn sheep (for which the BC populations are also called Stone sheep and the Alaskan/Yukon populations are called Dall’s sheep) can be distinguished from bighorn sheep due to their slightly thinner horns the tips of which grow away from the head (look at the front of the two pictured animals – bighorn, the point is almost under the upper curl of the horn, whereas the Thinhorn sheep’s are much farther out laterally from this upper curl).

Bison (Bison bison) * Mountain Goat (Oreamnos americanus) * Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) * Thinhorn Sheep (Ovis dalli) *


Bighorn sheep

Bison

Thinhorn (aka Dall’s or Stone) Sheep.


Mountain Goat Family: Cervidae The Cervidae is distinguished from the Bovidae in having antlers rather than horns. Antlers are bone outgrowths of the Frontal bone in the skull, and are highly vascularized during growth through an outer skin covering called velvet. Blood moving through the velvet supplying the underlying bone growth through calcium and nutrient deposition. Antlers grow seasonally, starting typically in the spring and reaching full development in the fall during the breeding season. That the point of full development, the blood supply to the velvet is cut off and the skin covering the antler dies and is shed by the animals rubbing against trees etc. In most Cervids, only males have these enlarged antlers (the exception is females in caribou). The antlers are typically used in male fighting over control of harems or groups of females. Antlers are also shed annually following the rut (breeding period). This is typically facilitated by changes in hormone levels causing deterioration of the junctions between the base of the antler and the frontal bone. Providing that nutrition is available, the number of points on antlers typically increase with the age of the animal. Distinguishing the different species, especially among the two main deer species (Mule and White-tailed) can be done by looking at the growth pattern on the antlers. Mule deer and White-tailed deer have antlers that grow forward, while the main branch of elk antlers grows backward over the body. Mule deer’s antlers grow in branching y-shaped forked tines of equal size, whereas white-tailed deer antlers have a main forward extending beem that has numerous points extending upwards from in. Moose antlers are spatulate (flattened). Caribou antlers are light and have both spatulate and non-spatulate points. They are also asymmetric, in that the points don’t necessarily match on either side of the head. Skull – Cervids lack incisors on the upper jaw, but have rather a horny plate against which the lower incisors articulate against. The lower canine faces forward and looks like an incisor.

Moose (Alces alces)* Elk (Cervus elaphus) * Mule (Black-tailed) Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)*

Elk

Mule Deer


White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginiana) * Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) * Fallow deer (Cervus dama) introduced


White-tailed deer


Appendix – Track and Scat guides – from the “Mammals of Algonquin Park”




Documents

Lab Book - Mammalogy & Ornithology