document_title: Bird

question_text: what does a bird have that no other animal has

question_tokens: what does a bird have that no other animal has

text: Bird

text: Evolution and classification

text: The first classification of birds was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae.[7] Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use.[8] Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy. Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the dinosaur clade Theropoda.[9]

text: Definition

text: Aves and a sister group, the clade Crocodilia, contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria. During the late 1990s, Aves was most commonly defined phylogenetically as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of modern birds and Archaeopteryx lithographica.[10] However, an earlier definition proposed by Jacques Gauthier gained wide currency in the 21st century, and is used by many scientists including adherents of the Phylocode system. Gauthier defined Aves to include only the crown group of the set of modern birds. This was done by excluding most groups known only from fossils, and assigning them, instead, to the Avialae,[11] in part to avoid the uncertainties about the placement of Archaeopteryx in relation to animals traditionally thought of as theropod dinosaurs.

text: Gauthier[12] identified four different definitions for the same biological name "Aves", which is a problem. Gauthier proposed to reserve the term Aves only for the crown group consisting of the last common ancestor of all living birds and all of its descendants, which corresponds to meaning number 4 below. He assigned other names to the other groups.

text:
Crocodiles

Birds

Turtles

Lizards (including snakes)

The birds' phylogenetic relationships to major living reptile groups.

text:
Aves can mean those advanced archosaurs with feathers (alternately Avifilopluma)
Aves can mean those that fly (alternately Avialae)
Aves can mean all reptiles closer to birds than to crocodiles (alternately Avemetatarsalia)
Aves can mean the last common ancestor of all the currently living birds and all of its descendants (a "crown group", in this sense synonymous with Neornithes)

tag: ol

text: Under the fourth definition Archaeopteryx is an avialan, and not a member of Aves. Gauthier's proposals have been adopted by many researchers in the field of palaeontology and bird evolution, though the exact definitions applied have been inconsistent. Avialae, initially proposed to replace the traditional fossil content of Aves, is often used synonymously with the vernacular term "bird" by these researchers.[13]

text: Most researchers define Avialae as branch-based clade, though definitions vary. Many authors have used a definition similar to "all theropods closer to birds than to Deinonychus."[14][15] Avialae is also occasionally defined as an apomorphy-based clade (that is, one based on physical characteristics). Jacques Gauthier, who named Avialae in 1986, re-defined it in 2001 as all dinosaurs that possessed feathered wings used in flapping flight, and the birds that descended from them.[12][16]

text: Dinosaurs and the origin of birds

text:
Paraves

†Scansoriopterygidae

†Eosinopteryx

Eumaniraptora

†Jinfengopteryx

†Aurornis

†Dromaeosauridae

†Troodontidae

Avialae

Cladogram following the results of a phylogenetic study by Cau et al., 2015.[18]

text: Based on fossil and biological evidence, most scientists accept that birds are a specialised subgroup of theropod dinosaurs,[19] and more specifically, they are members of Maniraptora, a group of theropods which includes dromaeosaurs and oviraptorids, among others.[20] As scientists have discovered more theropods closely related to birds, the previously clear distinction between non-birds and birds has become blurred. Recent discoveries in the Liaoning Province of northeast China, which demonstrate many small theropod feathered dinosaurs, contribute to this ambiguity.[21][22][23]

text: The consensus view in contemporary palaeontology is that the flying theropods, or avialans, are the closest relatives of the deinonychosaurs, which include dromaeosaurids and troodontids.[24] Together, these form a group called Paraves. Some basal members of this group, such as Microraptor, have features which may have enabled them to glide or fly. The most basal deinonychosaurs were very small. This evidence raises the possibility that the ancestor of all paravians may have been arboreal, have been able to glide, or both.[25][26] Unlike Archaeopteryx and the non-avialan feathered dinosaurs, who primarily ate meat, recent studies suggest that the first avialans were omnivores.[27]

text: The Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx is well known as one of the first transitional fossils to be found, and it provided support for the theory of evolution in the late 19th century. Archaeopteryx was the first fossil to display both clearly traditional reptilian characteristics: teeth, clawed fingers, and a long, lizard-like tail, as well as wings with flight feathers similar to those of modern birds. It is not considered a direct ancestor of birds, though it is possibly closely related to the true ancestor.[28]

text: Early evolution

text:
Avialae

†Anchiornis

†Archaeopteryx

†Xiaotingia

†Rahonavis

†Jeholornis

†Jixiangornis

Euavialae

†Balaur

Avebrevicauda

†Zhongjianornis

†Sapeornis

Pygostylia

†Confuciusornithiformes

†Protopteryx

†Pengornis

Ornithothoraces

Cladogram following the results of a phylogenetic study by Cau et al., 2015.[18]

text: The earliest known avialan fossils come from the Tiaojishan Formation of China, which has been dated to the late Jurassic period (Oxfordian stage), about 160 million years ago. The avialan species from this time period include Anchiornis huxleyi, Xiaotingia zhengi, and Aurornis xui.[13]

text: The well-known early avialan, Archaeopteryx, dates from slightly later Jurassic rocks (about 155 million years old) from Germany. Many of these early avialans shared unusual anatomical features that may be ancestral to modern birds, but were later lost during bird evolution. These features include enlarged claws on the second toe which may have been held clear of the ground in life, and long feathers or "hind wings" covering the hind limbs and feet, which may have been used in aerial maneuvering.[30]

text: Avialans diversified into a wide variety of forms during the Cretaceous Period.[31] Many groups retained primitive characteristics, such as clawed wings and teeth, though the latter were lost independently in a number of avialan groups, including modern birds (Aves). While the earliest forms, such as Archaeopteryx and Jeholornis, retained the long bony tails of their ancestors,[31] the tails of more advanced avialans were shortened with the advent of the pygostyle bone in the group Pygostylia. In the late Cretaceous, around 95 million years ago, the ancestor of all modern birds also evolved a better sense of smell.[32]

text: Early diversity of bird ancestors

text:
Ornithothoraces

†Enantiornithes

Euornithes

†Archaeorhynchus

Ornithuromorpha

†Patagopteryx

†Vorona

†Schizooura

†Hongshanornithidae

†Jianchangornis

†Songlingornithidae

†Gansus

†Apsaravis

Ornithurae

†Hesperornithes

†Ichthyornis

†Vegavis

Aves

Mesozoic bird phylogeny simplified after Wang et al., 2015's phylogenetic analysis.[33]

text: The first large, diverse lineage of short-tailed avialans to evolve were the enantiornithes, or "opposite birds", so named because the construction of their shoulder bones was in reverse to that of modern birds. Enantiornithes occupied a wide array of ecological niches, from sand-probing shorebirds and fish-eaters to tree-dwelling forms and seed-eaters. While they were the dominant group of avialans during the Cretaceous period, enantiornithes became extinct along with many other dinosaur groups at the end of the Mesozoic era.[31]

text: Many species of the second major avialan lineage to diversify, the Euornithes (meaning "true birds", because they include the ancestors of modern birds), were semi-aquatic and specialised in eating fish and other small aquatic organisms. Unlike the enantiornithes, which dominated land-based and arboreal habitats, most early euornithes lacked perching adaptations and seem to have included shorebird-like species, waders, and swimming and diving species.

text: The later included the superficially gull-like Ichthyornis,[34] the Hesperornithiformes, which became so well adapted to hunting fish in marine environments that they lost the ability to fly and became primarily aquatic.[31] The early euornithes also saw the development of many traits associated with modern birds, like strongly keeled breastbones, toothless, beaked portions of their jaws (though most non-avian euornithes retained teeth in other parts of the jaws).[35] Euornithes also included the first avialans to develop true pygostyle and a fully mobile fan of tail feathers,[36] which may have replaced the "hind wing" as the primary mode of aerial maneuverability and braking in flight.[30]

text: Diversification of modern birds

text:
Aves

Palaeognathae

Struthioniformes

Tinamiformes

Neognathae

Other birds (Neoaves)

Galloanserae

Anseriformes

Galliformes

Basal divergences of modern birds
based on Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy

text: All modern birds lie within the crown group Aves (alternately Neornithes), which has two subdivisions: the Palaeognathae, which includes the flightless ratites (such as the ostriches) and the weak-flying tinamous, and the extremely diverse Neognathae, containing all other birds.[37] These two subdivisions are often given the rank of superorder,[38] although Livezey and Zusi assigned them "cohort" rank.[9] Depending on the taxonomic viewpoint, the number of known living bird species varies anywhere from 9,800[39] to 10,050.[40]

text: The discovery of Vegavis, a late Cretaceous member of the Anatidae, proved that the diversification of modern birds started before the Cenozoic.[41] The affinities of an earlier fossil, the possible galliform Austinornis lentus, dated to about 85 million years ago,[42] are still too controversial to provide a fossil evidence of modern bird diversification.

text: Most studies agree on a Cretaceous age for the most recent common ancestor of modern birds but estimates range from the Middle Cretaceous[1] to the latest Late Cretaceous.[43] Similarly, there is no agreement on whether most of the early diversification of modern birds occurred before or after the Cretaceous–Palaeogene extinction event.[44] This disagreement is in part caused by a divergence in the evidence; most molecular dating studies suggests a Cretaceous radiation, while fossil evidence points to a Cenozoic radiation (the so-called 'rocks' versus 'clocks' controversy). Previous attempts to reconcile molecular and fossil evidence have proved controversial,[44][45] but more recent estimates, using a more comprehensive sample of fossils and a new way of calibrating molecular clocks, showed that while modern birds originated early in the Late Cretaceous, a pulse of diversification in all major groups occurred around the Cretaceous–Palaeogene extinction event.[46]

text: Classification of bird orders

text: Cladogram of modern bird relationships based on Prum, R.O. et al. (2015)[43] with some clade names after Yuri, T. et al. (2013).[47]

text:
Aves

Palaeognathae (paleognaths)

Neognathae

Galloanserae

Galliformes (chickens and relatives)

Anseriformes (ducks and relatives)

Neoaves

Strisores (hummingbirds and relatives)

Columbaves

Otidimorphae

Musophagiformes (turacos)

Otidiformes (bustards)

Cuculiformes (cuckoos)

Columbimorphae

Columbiformes (pigeons)

Mesitornithiformes (mesites)

Pteroclidiformes (sandgrouses)

Gruiformes (rails and cranes)

Aequorlitornithes

Mirandornithes

Phoenicopteriformes (flamingos)

Podicipediformes (grebes)

Charadriiformes (waders and relatives)

Eurypygimorphae

Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds)

Eurypygiformes (sunbittern and kagu)

Aequornithes (waterbirds)

Inopinaves

Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)

Telluraves

Afroaves

Accipitrimorphae

Cathartiformes (New World vultures)

Accipitriformes (hawks and relatives)

Strigiformes (owls)

Coraciimorphae

Coliidae (mouse birds)

Eucavitaves

Leptosomatiformes (cuckoo roller)

Cavitaves

Trogoniformes (trogons and quetzals)

Picocoraciae

Bucerotiformes (hornbills and relatives)

Coraciformes (kingfishers and relatives)

Piciformes (woodpeckers and relatives)

Australaves

Cariamiformes (seriemas)

Eufalconimorphae

Falconiformes (falcons)

Psittacopasserae

Psittaciformes (parrots)

Passeriformes (passerines)

text: The classification of birds is a contentious issue. Sibley and Ahlquist's Phylogeny and Classification of Birds (1990) is a landmark work on the classification of birds,[48] although it is frequently debated and constantly revised. Most evidence seems to suggest the assignment of orders is accurate,[49] but scientists disagree about the relationships between the orders themselves; evidence from modern bird anatomy, fossils and DNA have all been brought to bear on the problem, but no strong consensus has emerged. More recently, new fossil and molecular evidence is providing an increasingly clear picture of the evolution of modern bird orders.[50][43]

text: Distribution

text: Birds live and breed in most terrestrial habitats and on all seven continents, reaching their southern extreme in the snow petrel's breeding colonies up to 440 kilometres (270 mi) inland in Antarctica.[52] The highest bird diversity occurs in tropical regions. It was earlier thought that this high diversity was the result of higher speciation rates in the tropics; however recent studies found higher speciation rates in the high latitudes that were offset by greater extinction rates than in the tropics.[53] Several families of birds have adapted to life both on the world's oceans and in them, with some seabird species coming ashore only to breed[54] and some penguins have been recorded diving up to 300 metres (980 ft) deep.[55]

text: Many bird species have established breeding populations in areas to which they have been introduced by humans. Some of these introductions have been deliberate; the ring-necked pheasant, for example, has been introduced around the world as a game bird.[56] Others have been accidental, such as the establishment of wild monk parakeets in several North American cities after their escape from captivity.[57] Some species, including cattle egret,[58] yellow-headed caracara[59] and galah,[60] have spread naturally far beyond their original ranges as agricultural practices created suitable new habitat.

text: Anatomy and physiology

text: Compared with other vertebrates, birds have a body plan that shows many unusual adaptations, mostly to facilitate flight.

text: Skeletal system

text: The skeleton consists of very lightweight bones. They have large air-filled cavities (called pneumatic cavities) which connect with the respiratory system.[61] The skull bones in adults are fused and do not show cranial sutures.[62] The orbits are large and separated by a bony septum. The spine has cervical, thoracic, lumbar and caudal regions with the number of cervical (neck) vertebrae highly variable and especially flexible, but movement is reduced in the anterior thoracic vertebrae and absent in the later vertebrae.[63] The last few are fused with the pelvis to form the synsacrum.[62] The ribs are flattened and the sternum is keeled for the attachment of flight muscles except in the flightless bird orders. The forelimbs are modified into wings.[64]

text: Excretory system

text: Like the reptiles, birds are primarily uricotelic, that is, their kidneys extract nitrogenous waste from their bloodstream and excrete it as uric acid instead of urea or ammonia through the ureters into the intestine. Birds do not have a urinary bladder or external urethral opening and (with exception of the ostrich) uric acid is excreted along with faeces as a semisolid waste.[65][66][67] However, birds such as hummingbirds can be facultatively ammonotelic, excreting most of the nitrogenous wastes as ammonia.[68] They also excrete creatine, rather than creatinine like mammals.[62] This material, as well as the output of the intestines, emerges from the bird's cloaca.[69][70] The cloaca is a multi-purpose opening: waste is expelled through it, most birds mate by joining cloaca, and females lay eggs from it. In addition, many species of birds regurgitate pellets.[71]

text: Males within Palaeognathae (with the exception of the kiwis), the Anseriformes (with the exception of screamers), and in rudimentary forms in Galliformes (but fully developed in Cracidae) possess a penis, which is never present in Neoaves.[72][73] The length is thought to be related to sperm competition.[74] When not copulating, it is hidden within the proctodeum compartment within the cloaca, just inside the vent. The digestive system of birds is unique, with a crop for storage and a gizzard that contains swallowed stones for grinding food to compensate for the lack of teeth.[75] Most birds are highly adapted for rapid digestion to aid with flight.[76] Some migratory birds have adapted to use protein from many parts of their bodies, including protein from the intestines, as additional energy during migration.[77]

text: Respiratory and circulatory systems

text: Birds have one of the most complex respiratory systems of all animal groups.[62] Upon inhalation, 75% of the fresh air bypasses the lungs and flows directly into a posterior air sac which extends from the lungs and connects with air spaces in the bones and fills them with air. The other 25% of the air goes directly into the lungs. When the bird exhales, the used air flows out of the lungs and the stored fresh air from the posterior air sac is simultaneously forced into the lungs. Thus, a bird's lungs receive a constant supply of fresh air during both inhalation and exhalation.[78] Sound production is achieved using the syrinx, a muscular chamber incorporating multiple tympanic membranes which diverges from the lower end of the trachea;[79] the trachea being elongated in some species, increasing the volume of vocalisations and the perception of the bird's size.[80]

text: In birds, the main arteries taking blood away from the heart originate from the right aortic arch (or pharyngeal arch), unlike in the mammals where the left aortic arch forms this part of the aorta.[62] The postcava receives blood from the limbs via the renal portal system. Unlike in mammals, the circulating red blood cells in birds retain their nucleus.[81]

text: Heart type and features

text: The avian circulatory system is driven by a four-chambered, myogenic heart contained in a fibrous pericardial sac. This pericardial sac is filled with a serous fluid for lubrication.[82] The heart itself is divided into a right and left half, each with an atrium and ventricle. The atrium and ventricles of each side are separated by atrioventricular valves which prevent back flow from one chamber to the next during contraction. Being myogenic, the heart's pace is maintained by pacemaker cells found in the sinoatrial node, located on the right atrium.

text: The sinoatrial node uses calcium to cause a depolarising signal transduction pathway from the atrium through right and left atrioventricular bundle which communicates contraction to the ventricles. The avian heart also consists of muscular arches that are made up of thick bundles of muscular layers. Much like a mammalian heart, the avian heart is composed of endocardial, myocardial and epicardial layers.[82] The atrium walls tend to be thinner than the ventricle walls, due to the intense ventricular contraction used to pump oxygenated blood throughout the body. Avian hearts are generally larger than mammalian hearts when compared to body mass. This adaptation allows more blood to be pumped to meet the high metabolic need associated with flight.[83]

text: Organisation

text: Birds have a very efficient system for diffusing oxygen into the blood; birds have a ten times greater surface area to gas exchange volume than mammals. As a result, birds have more blood in their capillaries per unit of volume of lung than a mammal.[83] The arteries are composed of thick elastic muscles to withstand the pressure of the ventricular constriction, and become more rigid as they move away from the heart. Blood moves through the arteries, which undergo vasoconstriction, and into arterioles which act as a transportation system to distribute primarily oxygen as well as nutrients to all tissues of the body.[84] As the arterioles move away from the heart and into individual organs and tissues they are further divided to increase surface area and slow blood flow. Blood travels through the arterioles and moves into the capillaries where gas exchange can occur.

text: Capillaries are organized into capillary beds in tissues; it is here that blood exchanges oxygen for carbon dioxide waste. In the capillary beds blood flow is slowed to allow maximum diffusion of oxygen into the tissues. Once the blood has become deoxygenated it travels through venules then veins and back to the heart. Veins, unlike arteries, are thin and rigid as they do not need to withstand extreme pressure. As blood travels through the venules to the veins a funneling occurs called vasodilation bringing blood back to the heart.[84] Once the blood reaches the heart it moves first into the right atrium, then the right ventricle to be pumped through the lungs for further gas exchange of carbon dioxide waste for oxygen. Oxygenated blood then flows from the lungs through the left atrium to the left ventricle where it is pumped out to the body.

text: Nervous system

text: The nervous system is large relative to the bird's size.[62] The most developed part of the brain is the one that controls the flight-related functions, while the cerebellum coordinates movement and the cerebrum controls behaviour patterns, navigation, mating and nest building. Most birds have a poor sense of smell with notable exceptions including kiwis,[85] New World vultures[86] and tubenoses.[87] The avian visual system is usually highly developed. Water birds have special flexible lenses, allowing accommodation for vision in air and water.[62] Some species also have dual fovea. Birds are tetrachromatic, possessing ultraviolet (UV) sensitive cone cells in the eye as well as green, red and blue ones.[88] This allows them to perceive ultraviolet light, which is involved in courtship. Birds have specialised light-sensing cells deep in their brains that respond to light without input from eyes or other sensory neurons. These photo-receptive cells in the hypothalamus are involved in detecting the longer days of spring, and thus regulate breeding activities.

text: Many birds show plumage patterns in ultraviolet that are invisible to the human eye; some birds whose sexes appear similar to the naked eye are distinguished by the presence of ultraviolet reflective patches on their feathers. Male blue tits have an ultraviolet reflective crown patch which is displayed in courtship by posturing and raising of their nape feathers.[89] Ultraviolet light is also used in foraging—kestrels have been shown to search for prey by detecting the UV reflective urine trail marks left on the ground by rodents.[90] With the exception of pigeons and a few other species,[91] the eyelids of birds are not used in blinking. Instead the eye is lubricated by the nictitating membrane, a third eyelid that moves horizontally.[92] The nictitating membrane also covers the eye and acts as a contact lens in many aquatic birds.[62] The bird retina has a fan shaped blood supply system called the pecten.[62]

text: Most birds cannot move their eyes, although there are exceptions, such as the great cormorant.[93] Birds with eyes on the sides of their heads have a wide visual field, while birds with eyes on the front of their heads, such as owls, have binocular vision and can estimate the depth of field.[94] The avian ear lacks external pinnae but is covered by feathers, although in some birds, such as the Asio, Bubo and Otus owls, these feathers form tufts which resemble ears. The inner ear has a cochlea, but it is not spiral as in mammals.[95]

text: Defence and intraspecific combat

text: A few species are able to use chemical defences against predators; some Procellariiformes can eject an unpleasant stomach oil against an aggressor,[96] and some species of pitohuis from New Guinea have a powerful neurotoxin in their skin and feathers.[97]

text: A lack of field observations limit our knowledge, but intraspecific conflicts are known to sometimes result in injury or death.[98] The screamers (Anhimidae), some jacanas (Jacana, Hydrophasianus), the spur-winged goose (Plectropterus), the torrent duck (Merganetta) and nine species of lapwing (Vanellus) use a sharp spur on the wing as a weapon. The steamer ducks (Tachyeres), geese and swans (Anserinae), the solitaire (Pezophaps), sheathbills (Chionis), some guans (Crax) and stone curlews (Burhinus) use a bony knob on the alular metacarpal to punch and hammer opponents.[98] The jacanas Actophilornis and Irediparra have an expanded, blade-like radius. The extinct Xenicibis was unique in having an elongate forelimb and massive hand which likely functioned in combat or defence as a jointed club or flail. Swans, for instance, may strike with the bony spurs and bite when defending eggs or young.[98]

text: Chromosomes

text: Birds have two sexes: either female or male. The sex of birds is determined by the Z and W sex chromosomes, rather than by the X and Y chromosomes present in mammals. Male birds have two Z chromosomes (ZZ), and female birds have a W chromosome and a Z chromosome (WZ).[62]

text: In nearly all species of birds, an individual's sex is determined at fertilisation. However, one recent study demonstrated temperature-dependent sex determination among the Australian brushturkey, for which higher temperatures during incubation resulted in a higher female-to-male sex ratio.[99] This, however, was later proven to not be the case. These birds do not exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination, but temperature-dependent sex mortality.[100]

text: Feathers, plumage, and scales

text: Feathers are a feature characteristic of birds (though also present in some dinosaurs not currently considered to be true birds). They facilitate flight, provide insulation that aids in thermoregulation, and are used in display, camouflage, and signalling.[62] There are several types of feathers, each serving its own set of purposes. Feathers are epidermal growths attached to the skin and arise only in specific tracts of skin called pterylae. The distribution pattern of these feather tracts (pterylosis) is used in taxonomy and systematics. The arrangement and appearance of feathers on the body, called plumage, may vary within species by age, social status,[101] and sex.[102]

text: Plumage is regularly moulted; the standard plumage of a bird that has moulted after breeding is known as the "non-breeding" plumage, or—in the Humphrey-Parkes terminology—"basic" plumage; breeding plumages or variations of the basic plumage are known under the Humphrey-Parkes system as "alternate" plumages.[103] Moulting is annual in most species, although some may have two moults a year, and large birds of prey may moult only once every few years. Moulting patterns vary across species. In passerines, flight feathers are replaced one at a time with the innermost primary being the first. When the fifth of sixth primary is replaced, the outermost tertiaries begin to drop. After the innermost tertiaries are moulted, the secondaries starting from the innermost begin to drop and this proceeds to the outer feathers (centrifugal moult). The greater primary coverts are moulted in synchrony with the primary that they overlap.[104]

text: A small number of species, such as ducks and geese, lose all of their flight feathers at once, temporarily becoming flightless.[105] As a general rule, the tail feathers are moulted and replaced starting with the innermost pair.[104] Centripetal moults of tail feathers are however seen in the Phasianidae.[106] The centrifugal moult is modified in the tail feathers of woodpeckers and treecreepers, in that it begins with the second innermost pair of feathers and finishes with the central pair of feathers so that the bird maintains a functional climbing tail.[104][107] The general pattern seen in passerines is that the primaries are replaced outward, secondaries inward, and the tail from centre outward.[108] Before nesting, the females of most bird species gain a bare brood patch by losing feathers close to the belly. The skin there is well supplied with blood vessels and helps the bird in incubation.[109]

text: Feathers require maintenance and birds preen or groom them daily, spending an average of around 9% of their daily time on this.[110] The bill is used to brush away foreign particles and to apply waxy secretions from the uropygial gland; these secretions protect the feathers' flexibility and act as an antimicrobial agent, inhibiting the growth of feather-degrading bacteria.[111] This may be supplemented with the secretions of formic acid from ants, which birds receive through a behaviour known as anting, to remove feather parasites.[112]

text: The scales of birds are composed of the same keratin as beaks, claws, and spurs. They are found mainly on the toes and metatarsus, but may be found further up on the ankle in some birds. Most bird scales do not overlap significantly, except in the cases of kingfishers and woodpeckers. The scales of birds are thought to be homologous to those of reptiles and mammals.[113]

text: Flight

text: Most birds can fly, which distinguishes them from almost all other vertebrate classes. Flight is the primary means of locomotion for most bird species and is used for searching for food and for escaping from predators. Birds have various adaptations for flight, including a lightweight skeleton, two large flight muscles, the pectoralis (which accounts for 15% of the total mass of the bird) and the supracoracoideus, as well as a modified forelimb (wing) that serves as an aerofoil.[62]

text: Wing shape and size generally determine a bird's flight style and performance; many birds combine powered, flapping flight with less energy-intensive soaring flight. About 60 extant bird species are flightless, as were many extinct birds.[114] Flightlessness often arises in birds on isolated islands, probably due to limited resources and the absence of land predators.[115] Though flightless, penguins use similar musculature and movements to "fly" through the water, as do auks, shearwaters and dippers.[116]

text: Behaviour

text: Most birds are diurnal, but some birds, such as many species of owls and nightjars, are nocturnal or crepuscular (active during twilight hours), and many coastal waders feed when the tides are appropriate, by day or night.[117]

text: Diet and feeding

text: Birds' diets are varied and often include nectar, fruit, plants, seeds, carrion, and various small animals, including other birds.[62] Because birds have no teeth, their digestive system is adapted to process unmasticated food items that are swallowed whole.[118]

text: Birds that employ many strategies to obtain food or feed on a variety of food items are called generalists, while others that concentrate time and effort on specific food items or have a single strategy to obtain food are considered specialists.[62] Birds' feeding strategies vary by species. Many birds glean for insects, invertebrates, fruit, or seeds. Some hunt insects by suddenly attacking from a branch. Those species that seek pest insects are considered beneficial 'biological control agents' and their presence encouraged in biological pest control programmes.[119]

text: Nectar feeders such as hummingbirds, sunbirds, lories, and lorikeets amongst others have specially adapted brushy tongues and in many cases bills designed to fit co-adapted flowers.[120] Kiwis and shorebirds with long bills probe for invertebrates; shorebirds' varied bill lengths and feeding methods result in the separation of ecological niches.[62][121] Loons, diving ducks, penguins and auks pursue their prey underwater, using their wings or feet for propulsion,[54] while aerial predators such as sulids, kingfishers and terns plunge dive after their prey. Flamingos, three species of prion, and some ducks are filter feeders.[122][123] Geese and dabbling ducks are primarily grazers.

text: Some species, including frigatebirds, gulls,[124] and skuas,[125] engage in kleptoparasitism, stealing food items from other birds. Kleptoparasitism is thought to be a supplement to food obtained by hunting, rather than a significant part of any species' diet; a study of great frigatebirds stealing from masked boobies estimated that the frigatebirds stole at most 40% of their food and on average stole only 5%.[126] Other birds are scavengers; some of these, like vultures, are specialised carrion eaters, while others, like gulls, corvids, or other birds of prey, are opportunists.[127]

text: Water and drinking

text: Water is needed by many birds although their mode of excretion and lack of sweat glands reduces the physiological demands.[128] Some desert birds can obtain their water needs entirely from moisture in their food. They may also have other adaptations such as allowing their body temperature to rise, saving on moisture loss from evaporative cooling or panting.[129] Seabirds can drink seawater and have salt glands inside the head that eliminate excess salt out of the nostrils.[130]

text: Most birds scoop water in their beaks and raise their head to let water run down the throat. Some species, especially of arid zones, belonging to the pigeon, finch, mousebird, button-quail and bustard families are capable of sucking up water without the need to tilt back their heads.[131] Some desert birds depend on water sources and sandgrouse are particularly well known for their daily congregations at waterholes. Nesting sandgrouse and many plovers carry water to their young by wetting their belly feathers.[132] Some birds carry water for chicks at the nest in their crop or regurgitate it along with food. The pigeon family, flamingos and penguins have adaptations to produce a nutritive fluid called crop milk that they provide to their chicks.[133]

text: Feather care

text: Feathers being critical to the survival of a bird, require maintenance. Apart from physical wear and tear, feathers face the onslaught of fungi, ectoparasitic feather mites and birdlice.[134] The physical condition of feathers are maintained by preening often with the application of secretions from the preen gland. Birds also bathe in water or dust themselves. While some birds dip into shallow water, more aerial species may make aerial dips into water and arboreal species often make use of dew or rain that collect on leaves. Birds of arid regions make use of loose soil to dust-bathe. A behaviour termed as anting in which the bird encourages ants to run through their plumage is also thought to help them reduce the ectoparasite load in feathers. Many species will spread out their wings and expose them to direct sunlight and this too is thought to help in reducing fungal and ectoparasitic activity that may lead to feather damage.[135][136]

text: Migration

text: Many bird species migrate to take advantage of global differences of seasonal temperatures, therefore optimising availability of food sources and breeding habitat. These migrations vary among the different groups. Many landbirds, shorebirds, and waterbirds undertake annual long distance migrations, usually triggered by the length of daylight as well as weather conditions. These birds are characterised by a breeding season spent in the temperate or polar regions and a non-breeding season in the tropical regions or opposite hemisphere. Before migration, birds substantially increase body fats and reserves and reduce the size of some of their organs.[77][137]

text: Migration is highly demanding energetically, particularly as birds need to cross deserts and oceans without refuelling. Landbirds have a flight range of around 2,500 km (1,600 mi) and shorebirds can fly up to 4,000 km (2,500 mi),[138] although the bar-tailed godwit is capable of non-stop flights of up to 10,200 km (6,300 mi).[139] Seabirds also undertake long migrations, the longest annual migration being those of sooty shearwaters, which nest in New Zealand and Chile and spend the northern summer feeding in the North Pacific off Japan, Alaska and California, an annual round trip of 64,000 km (39,800 mi).[140] Other seabirds disperse after breeding, travelling widely but having no set migration route. Albatrosses nesting in the Southern Ocean often undertake circumpolar trips between breeding seasons.[141]

text: Some bird species undertake shorter migrations, travelling only as far as is required to avoid bad weather or obtain food. Irruptive species such as the boreal finches are one such group and can commonly be found at a location in one year and absent the next. This type of migration is normally associated with food availability.[142] Species may also travel shorter distances over part of their range, with individuals from higher latitudes travelling into the existing range of conspecifics; others undertake partial migrations, where only a fraction of the population, usually females and subdominant males, migrates.[143] Partial migration can form a large percentage of the migration behaviour of birds in some regions; in Australia, surveys found that 44% of non-passerine birds and 32% of passerines were partially migratory.[144]

text: Altitudinal migration is a form of short distance migration in which birds spend the breeding season at higher altitudes and move to lower ones during suboptimal conditions. It is most often triggered by temperature changes and usually occurs when the normal territories also become inhospitable due to lack of food.[145] Some species may also be nomadic, holding no fixed territory and moving according to weather and food availability. Parrots as a family are overwhelmingly neither migratory nor sedentary but considered to either be dispersive, irruptive, nomadic or undertake small and irregular migrations.[146]

text: The ability of birds to return to precise locations across vast distances has been known for some time; in an experiment conducted in the 1950s, a Manx shearwater released in Boston in the United States returned to its colony in Skomer, in Wales within 13 days, a distance of 5,150 km (3,200 mi).[147] Birds navigate during migration using a variety of methods. For diurnal migrants, the sun is used to navigate by day, and a stellar compass is used at night. Birds that use the sun compensate for the changing position of the sun during the day by the use of an internal clock.[62] Orientation with the stellar compass depends on the position of the constellations surrounding Polaris.[148] These are backed up in some species by their ability to sense the Earth's geomagnetism through specialised photoreceptors.[149]

text: Communication

text:
Bird song

Song of the house wren, a common North American songbird

Problems playing this file? See media help.

text: Birds communicate using primarily visual and auditory signals. Signals can be interspecific (between species) and intraspecific (within species).

text: Birds sometimes use plumage to assess and assert social dominance,[150] to display breeding condition in sexually selected species, or to make threatening displays, as in the sunbittern's mimicry of a large predator to ward off hawks and protect young chicks.[151] Variation in plumage also allows for the identification of birds, particularly between species.

text: Visual communication among birds may also involve ritualised displays, which have developed from non-signalling actions such as preening, the adjustments of feather position, pecking, or other behaviour. These displays may signal aggression or submission or may contribute to the formation of pair-bonds.[62] The most elaborate displays occur during courtship, where "dances" are often formed from complex combinations of many possible component movements;[152] males' breeding success may depend on the quality of such displays.[153]

text: Bird calls and songs, which are produced in the syrinx, are the major means by which birds communicate with sound. This communication can be very complex; some species can operate the two sides of the syrinx independently, allowing the simultaneous production of two different songs.[79] Calls are used for a variety of purposes, including mate attraction,[62] evaluation of potential mates,[154] bond formation, the claiming and maintenance of territories,[62] the identification of other individuals (such as when parents look for chicks in colonies or when mates reunite at the start of breeding season),[155] and the warning of other birds of potential predators, sometimes with specific information about the nature of the threat.[156] Some birds also use mechanical sounds for auditory communication. The Coenocorypha snipes of New Zealand drive air through their feathers,[157] woodpeckers drum territorially,[76] and palm cockatoos use tools to drum.[158]

text: Flocking and other associations

text: While some birds are essentially territorial or live in small family groups, other birds may form large flocks. The principal benefits of flocking are safety in numbers and increased foraging efficiency.[62] Defence against predators is particularly important in closed habitats like forests, where ambush predation is common and multiple eyes can provide a valuable early warning system. This has led to the development of many mixed-species feeding flocks, which are usually composed of small numbers of many species; these flocks provide safety in numbers but increase potential competition for resources.[160] Costs of flocking include bullying of socially subordinate birds by more dominant birds and the reduction of feeding efficiency in certain cases.[161]

text: Birds sometimes also form associations with non-avian species. Plunge-diving seabirds associate with dolphins and tuna, which push shoaling fish towards the surface.[162] Hornbills have a mutualistic relationship with dwarf mongooses, in which they forage together and warn each other of nearby birds of prey and other predators.[163]

text: Resting and roosting

text: The high metabolic rates of birds during the active part of the day is supplemented by rest at other times. Sleeping birds often use a type of sleep known as vigilant sleep, where periods of rest are interspersed with quick eye-opening "peeks", allowing them to be sensitive to disturbances and enable rapid escape from threats.[164] Swifts are believed to be able to sleep in flight and radar observations suggest that they orient themselves to face the wind in their roosting flight.[165] It has been suggested that there may be certain kinds of sleep which are possible even when in flight.[166]

text: Some birds have also demonstrated the capacity to fall into slow-wave sleep one hemisphere of the brain at a time. The birds tend to exercise this ability depending upon its position relative to the outside of the flock. This may allow the eye opposite the sleeping hemisphere to remain vigilant for predators by viewing the outer margins of the flock. This adaptation is also known from marine mammals.[167] Communal roosting is common because it lowers the loss of body heat and decreases the risks associated with predators.[168] Roosting sites are often chosen with regard to thermoregulation and safety.[169]

text: Many sleeping birds bend their heads over their backs and tuck their bills in their back feathers, although others place their beaks among their breast feathers. Many birds rest on one leg, while some may pull up their legs into their feathers, especially in cold weather. Perching birds have a tendon locking mechanism that helps them hold on to the perch when they are asleep. Many ground birds, such as quails and pheasants, roost in trees. A few parrots of the genus Loriculus roost hanging upside down.[170] Some hummingbirds go into a nightly state of torpor accompanied with a reduction of their metabolic rates.[171] This physiological adaptation shows in nearly a hundred other species, including owlet-nightjars, nightjars, and woodswallows. One species, the common poorwill, even enters a state of hibernation.[172] Birds do not have sweat glands, but they may cool themselves by moving to shade, standing in water, panting, increasing their surface area, fluttering their throat or by using special behaviours like urohidrosis to cool themselves.

text: Breeding

text: Social systems

text: Ninety-five per cent of bird species are socially monogamous. These species pair for at least the length of the breeding season or—in some cases—for several years or until the death of one mate.[174] Monogamy allows for both paternal care and biparental care, which is especially important for species in which females require males' assistance for successful brood-rearing.[175] Among many socially monogamous species, extra-pair copulation (infidelity) is common.[176] Such behaviour typically occurs between dominant males and females paired with subordinate males, but may also be the result of forced copulation in ducks and other anatids.[177]

text: Female birds have sperm storage mechanisms that allow sperm from males to remain viable long after copulation, a hundred days in some species.[178] Sperm from multiple males may compete through this mechanism. For females, possible benefits of extra-pair copulation include getting better genes for her offspring and insuring against the possibility of infertility in her mate.[179] Males of species that engage in extra-pair copulations will closely guard their mates to ensure the parentage of the offspring that they raise.[180]

text: Other mating systems, including polygyny, polyandry, polygamy, polygynandry, and promiscuity, also occur.[62] Polygamous breeding systems arise when females are able to raise broods without the help of males.[62] Some species may use more than one system depending on the circumstances.

text: Breeding usually involves some form of courtship display, typically performed by the male.[181] Most displays are rather simple and involve some type of song. Some displays, however, are quite elaborate. Depending on the species, these may include wing or tail drumming, dancing, aerial flights, or communal lekking. Females are generally the ones that drive partner selection,[182] although in the polyandrous phalaropes, this is reversed: plainer males choose brightly coloured females.[183] Courtship feeding, billing and allopreening are commonly performed between partners, generally after the birds have paired and mated.[76]

text: Homosexual behaviour has been observed in males or females in numerous species of birds, including copulation, pair-bonding, and joint parenting of chicks.[184]

text: Territories, nesting and incubation

text: Many birds actively defend a territory from others of the same species during the breeding season; maintenance of territories protects the food source for their chicks. Species that are unable to defend feeding territories, such as seabirds and swifts, often breed in colonies instead; this is thought to offer protection from predators. Colonial breeders defend small nesting sites, and competition between and within species for nesting sites can be intense.[185]

text: All birds lay amniotic eggs with hard shells made mostly of calcium carbonate.[62] Hole and burrow nesting species tend to lay white or pale eggs, while open nesters lay camouflaged eggs. There are many exceptions to this pattern, however; the ground-nesting nightjars have pale eggs, and camouflage is instead provided by their plumage. Species that are victims of brood parasites have varying egg colours to improve the chances of spotting a parasite's egg, which forces female parasites to match their eggs to those of their hosts.[186]

text: Bird eggs are usually laid in a nest. Most species create somewhat elaborate nests, which can be cups, domes, plates, beds scrapes, mounds, or burrows.[187] Some bird nests, however, are extremely primitive; albatross nests are no more than a scrape on the ground. Most birds build nests in sheltered, hidden areas to avoid predation, but large or colonial birds—which are more capable of defence—may build more open nests. During nest construction, some species seek out plant matter from plants with parasite-reducing toxins to improve chick survival,[188] and feathers are often used for nest insulation.[187] Some bird species have no nests; the cliff-nesting common guillemot lays its eggs on bare rock, and male emperor penguins keep eggs between their body and feet. The absence of nests is especially prevalent in ground-nesting species where the newly hatched young are precocial.

text: Incubation, which optimises temperature for chick development, usually begins after the last egg has been laid.[62] In monogamous species incubation duties are often shared, whereas in polygamous species one parent is wholly responsible for incubation. Warmth from parents passes to the eggs through brood patches, areas of bare skin on the abdomen or breast of the incubating birds. Incubation can be an energetically demanding process; adult albatrosses, for instance, lose as much as 83 grams (2.9 oz) of body weight per day of incubation.[189] The warmth for the incubation of the eggs of megapodes comes from the sun, decaying vegetation or volcanic sources.[190] Incubation periods range from 10 days (in woodpeckers, cuckoos and passerine birds) to over 80 days (in albatrosses and kiwis).[62]

text: The diversity of characteristics of birds is great, sometimes even in closely related species. Several avian characteristics are compared in the table below.[191][192]

text:
Species
Adult weight
(grams)

Incubation
(days)

Clutches
(per year)

Clutch size

Ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)
3
13
2.0
2

House sparrow (Passer domesticus)
25
11
4.5
5

Greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)
376
20
1.5
4

Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura)
2,200
39
1.0
2

Laysan albatross (Diomedea immutabilis)
3,150
64
1.0
1

Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus)
4,000
40
1.0
1

Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
4,800
40
1.0
2

Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
6,050
28
1.0
11

Columns are sortable

text: Parental care and fledging

text: At the time of their hatching, chicks range in development from helpless to independent, depending on their species. Helpless chicks are termed altricial, and tend to be born small, blind, immobile and naked; chicks that are mobile and feathered upon hatching are termed precocial. Altricial chicks need help thermoregulating and must be brooded for longer than precocial chicks. The young of many bird species do not precisely fit into either the precocial or altricial category, having some aspects of each and thus fall somewhere on an "altricial-precocial spectrum".[193] Chicks at neither extreme but favoring one or the other may be termed semi-precocial[194] or semi-altricial.[195][196]

text: The length and nature of parental care varies widely amongst different orders and species. At one extreme, parental care in megapodes ends at hatching; the newly hatched chick digs itself out of the nest mound without parental assistance and can fend for itself immediately.[197] At the other extreme, many seabirds have extended periods of parental care, the longest being that of the great frigatebird, whose chicks take up to six months to fledge and are fed by the parents for up to an additional 14 months.[198] The chick guard stage describes the period of breeding during which one of the adult birds is permanently present at the nest after chicks have hatched. The main purpose of the guard stage is to aid offspring to thermoregulate and protect them from predation.[199]

text: In some species, both parents care for nestlings and fledglings; in others, such care is the responsibility of only one sex. In some species, other members of the same species—usually close relatives of the breeding pair, such as offspring from previous broods—will help with the raising of the young.[200] Such alloparenting is particularly common among the Corvida, which includes such birds as the true crows, Australian magpie and fairy-wrens,[201] but has been observed in species as different as the rifleman and red kite. Among most groups of animals, male parental care is rare. In birds, however, it is quite common—more so than in any other vertebrate class.[62] Though territory and nest site defence, incubation, and chick feeding are often shared tasks, there is sometimes a division of labour in which one mate undertakes all or most of a particular duty.[202]

text: The point at which chicks fledge varies dramatically. The chicks of the Synthliboramphus murrelets, like the ancient murrelet, leave the nest the night after they hatch, following their parents out to sea, where they are raised away from terrestrial predators.[203] Some other species, such as ducks, move their chicks away from the nest at an early age. In most species, chicks leave the nest just before, or soon after, they are able to fly. The amount of parental care after fledging varies; albatross chicks leave the nest on their own and receive no further help, while other species continue some supplementary feeding after fledging.[204] Chicks may also follow their parents during their first migration.[205]

text: Brood parasites

text: Brood parasitism, in which an egg-layer leaves her eggs with another individual's brood, is more common among birds than any other type of organism.[206] After a parasitic bird lays her eggs in another bird's nest, they are often accepted and raised by the host at the expense of the host's own brood. Brood parasites may be either obligate brood parasites, which must lay their eggs in the nests of other species because they are incapable of raising their own young, or non-obligate brood parasites, which sometimes lay eggs in the nests of conspecifics to increase their reproductive output even though they could have raised their own young.[207] One hundred bird species, including honeyguides, icterids, and ducks, are obligate parasites, though the most famous are the cuckoos.[206] Some brood parasites are adapted to hatch before their host's young, which allows them to destroy the host's eggs by pushing them out of the nest or to kill the host's chicks; this ensures that all food brought to the nest will be fed to the parasitic chicks.[208]

text: Sexual selection

text: Birds have evolved a variety of mating behaviours, with the peacock tail being perhaps the most famous example of sexual selection and the Fisherian runaway. Commonly occurring sexual dimorphisms such as size and colour differences are energetically costly attributes that signal competitive breeding situations.[209] Many types of avian sexual selection have been identified; intersexual selection, also known as female choice; and intrasexual competition, where individuals of the more abundant sex compete with each other for the privilege to mate. Sexually selected traits often evolve to become more pronounced in competitive breeding situations until the trait begins to limit the individual’s fitness. Conflicts between an individual fitness and signalling adaptations ensure that sexually selected ornaments such as plumage coloration and courtship behaviour are "honest" traits. Signals must be costly to ensure that only good-quality individuals can present these exaggerated sexual ornaments and behaviours.[210]

text: Inbreeding depression

text: Inbreeding causes early death (inbreeding depression) in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata.[211] Embryo survival (that is, hatching success of fertile eggs) was significantly lower for sib-sib mating pairs than for unrelated pairs.

text: Darwin’s finch Geospiza scandens experiences inbreeding depression (reduced survival of offspring) and the magnitude of this effect is influenced by environmental conditions such as low food availability.[212]

text: Inbreeding avoidance

text: Incestuous matings by the purple-crowned fairy wren Malurus coronatus result in severe fitness costs due to inbreeding depression (greater than 30% reduction in hatchability of eggs).[213] Females paired with related males may undertake extra pair matings (see Promiscuity#Other animals for 90% frequency in avian species) that can reduce the negative effects of inbreeding. However, there are ecological and demographic constraints on extra pair matings. Nevertheless, 43% of broods produced by incestuously paired females contained extra pair young.[213]

text: Inbreeding depression occurs in the great tit (Parus major) when the offspring produced as a result of a mating between close relatives show reduced fitness. In natural populations of Parus major, inbreeding is avoided by dispersal of individuals from their birthplace, which reduces the chance of mating with a close relative.[214]

text: Southern pied babblers Turdoides bicolor appear to avoid inbreeding in two ways. The first is through dispersal, and the second is by avoiding familiar group members as mates.[215] Although both males and females disperse locally, they move outside the range where genetically related individuals are likely to be encountered. Within their group, individuals only acquire breeding positions when the opposite-sex breeder is unrelated.

text: Cooperative breeding in birds typically occurs when offspring, usually males, delay dispersal from their natal group in order to remain with the family to help rear younger kin.[216] Female offspring rarely stay at home, dispersing over distances that allow them to breed independently, or to join unrelated groups. In general, inbreeding is avoided because it leads to a reduction in progeny fitness (inbreeding depression) due largely to the homozygous expression of deleterious recessive alleles.[217] Cross-fertilisation between unrelated individuals ordinarily leads to the masking of deleterious recessive alleles in progeny.[218][219]

text: Ecology

text: Birds occupy a wide range of ecological positions.[159] While some birds are generalists, others are highly specialised in their habitat or food requirements. Even within a single habitat, such as a forest, the niches occupied by different species of birds vary, with some species feeding in the forest canopy, others beneath the canopy, and still others on the forest floor. Forest birds may be insectivores, frugivores, and nectarivores. Aquatic birds generally feed by fishing, plant eating, and piracy or kleptoparasitism. Birds of prey specialise in hunting mammals or other birds, while vultures are specialised scavengers. Avivores are animals that are specialised at preying on birds.

text: Some nectar-feeding birds are important pollinators, and many frugivores play a key role in seed dispersal.[220] Plants and pollinating birds often coevolve,[221] and in some cases a flower's primary pollinator is the only species capable of reaching its nectar.[222]

text: Birds are often important to island ecology. Birds have frequently reached islands that mammals have not; on those islands, birds may fulfil ecological roles typically played by larger animals. For example, in New Zealand the moas were important browsers, as are the kereru and kokako today.[220] Today the plants of New Zealand retain the defensive adaptations evolved to protect them from the extinct moa.[223] Nesting seabirds may also affect the ecology of islands and surrounding seas, principally through the concentration of large quantities of guano, which may enrich the local soil[224] and the surrounding seas.[225]

text: A wide variety of avian ecology field methods, including counts, nest monitoring, and capturing and marking, are used for researching avian ecology.

text: Relationship with humans

text: Since birds are highly visible and common animals, humans have had a relationship with them since the dawn of man.[226] Sometimes, these relationships are mutualistic, like the cooperative honey-gathering among honeyguides and African peoples such as the Borana.[227] Other times, they may be commensal, as when species such as the house sparrow[228] have benefited from human activities. Several bird species have become commercially significant agricultural pests,[229] and some pose an aviation hazard.[230] Human activities can also be detrimental, and have threatened numerous bird species with extinction (hunting, avian lead poisoning, pesticides, roadkill, wind turbine kills[231] and predation by pet cats and dogs are common sources of death for birds).

text: Birds can act as vectors for spreading diseases such as psittacosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, mycobacteriosis (avian tuberculosis), avian influenza (bird flu), giardiasis, and cryptosporidiosis over long distances. Some of these are zoonotic diseases that can also be transmitted to humans.[232]

text: Economic importance

text: Domesticated birds raised for meat and eggs, called poultry, are the largest source of animal protein eaten by humans; in 2003, 76 million tons of poultry and 61 million tons of eggs were produced worldwide.[233] Chickens account for much of human poultry consumption, though domesticated turkeys, ducks, and geese are also relatively common. Many species of birds are also hunted for meat. Bird hunting is primarily a recreational activity except in extremely undeveloped areas. The most important birds hunted in North and South America are waterfowl; other widely hunted birds include pheasants, wild turkeys, quail, doves, partridge, grouse, snipe, and woodcock.[234] Muttonbirding is also popular in Australia and New Zealand.[235] Though some hunting, such as that of muttonbirds, may be sustainable, hunting has led to the extinction or endangerment of dozens of species.[236]

text: Other commercially valuable products from birds include feathers (especially the down of geese and ducks), which are used as insulation in clothing and bedding, and seabird faeces (guano), which is a valuable source of phosphorus and nitrogen. The War of the Pacific, sometimes called the Guano War, was fought in part over the control of guano deposits.[237]

text: Birds have been domesticated by humans both as pets and for practical purposes. Colourful birds, such as parrots and mynas, are bred in captivity or kept as pets, a practice that has led to the illegal trafficking of some endangered species.[238] Falcons and cormorants have long been used for hunting and fishing, respectively. Messenger pigeons, used since at least 1 AD, remained important as recently as World War II. Today, such activities are more common either as hobbies, for entertainment and tourism,[239] or for sports such as pigeon racing.

text: Amateur bird enthusiasts (called birdwatchers, twitchers or, more commonly, birders) number in the millions.[240] Many homeowners erect bird feeders near their homes to attract various species. Bird feeding has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry; for example, an estimated 75% of households in Britain provide food for birds at some point during the winter.[241]

text: In religion and mythology

text: Birds play prominent and diverse roles in religion and mythology. In religion, birds may serve as either messengers or priests and leaders for a deity, such as in the Cult of Makemake, in which the Tangata manu of Easter Island served as chiefs[242] or as attendants, as in the case of Hugin and Munin, the two common ravens who whispered news into the ears of the Norse god Odin.[243] In several civilisations of ancient Italy, particularly Etruscan and Roman religion, priests were involved in augury, or interpreting the words of birds while the "auspex" (from which the word "auspicious" is derived) watched their activities to foretell events.[244]

text: They may also serve as religious symbols, as when Jonah (Hebrew: יוֹנָה, dove) embodied the fright, passivity, mourning, and beauty traditionally associated with doves.[245] Birds have themselves been deified, as in the case of the common peacock, which is perceived as Mother Earth by the Dravidians of India.[246] In religious images preserved from the Inca and Tiwanaku empires, birds are depicted in the process of transgressing boundaries between earthly and underground spiritual realms.[247] Indigenous peoples of the central Andes maintain legends of birds passing to and from metaphysical worlds.[247]

text: In culture and folklore

text: Birds have featured in culture and art since prehistoric times, when they were represented in early cave paintings.[248] Some birds have been perceived as monsters, including the mythological Roc and the Māori's legendary Pouākai, a giant bird capable of snatching humans.[249] Birds were later used as symbols of power, as in the magnificent Peacock Throne of the Mughal and Persian emperors.[250] With the advent of scientific interest in birds, many paintings of birds were commissioned for books.

text: Among the most famous of these bird artists was John James Audubon, whose paintings of North American birds were a great commercial success in Europe and who later lent his name to the National Audubon Society.[251] Birds are also important figures in poetry; for example, Homer incorporated nightingales into his Odyssey, and Catullus used a sparrow as an erotic symbol in his Catullus 2.[252] The relationship between an albatross and a sailor is the central theme of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which led to the use of the term as a metaphor for a 'burden'.[253] Other English metaphors derive from birds; vulture funds and vulture investors, for instance, take their name from the scavenging vulture.[254]

text: Perceptions of bird species vary across cultures. Owls are associated with bad luck, witchcraft, and death in parts of Africa,[255] but are regarded as wise across much of Europe.[256] Hoopoes were considered sacred in Ancient Egypt and symbols of virtue in Persia, but were thought of as thieves across much of Europe and harbingers of war in Scandinavia.[257] In heraldry, birds, especially eagles, often appear in coats of arms.[258]

text: In music

text: In music, birdsong has influenced composers and musicians in several ways: they can be inspired by birdsong; they can intentionally imitate bird song in a composition, as Vivaldi, Messiaen, and Beethoven did, along with many later composers; they can incorporate recordings of birds into their works, as Ottorino Respighi first did; or like Beatrice Harrison and David Rothenberg, they can duet with birds.[259][260][261][262]

text: Conservation

text: Though human activities have allowed the expansion of a few species, such as the barn swallow and European starling, they have caused population decreases or extinction in many other species. Over a hundred bird species have gone extinct in historical times,[263] although the most dramatic human-caused avian extinctions, eradicating an estimated 750–1800 species, occurred during the human colonisation of Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian islands.[264] Many bird populations are declining worldwide, with 1,227 species listed as threatened by BirdLife International and the IUCN in 2009.[265][266]

text: The most commonly cited human threat to birds is habitat loss.[267] Other threats include overhunting, accidental mortality due to collisions with buildings or vehicles, long-line fishing bycatch,[268] pollution (including oil spills and pesticide use),[269] competition and predation from nonnative invasive species,[270] and climate change.

text: Governments and conservation groups work to protect birds, either by passing laws that preserve and restore bird habitat or by establishing captive populations for reintroductions. Such projects have produced some successes; one study estimated that conservation efforts saved 16 species of bird that would otherwise have gone extinct between 1994 and 2004, including the California condor and Norfolk parakeet.[271]


document_title: List of Education Ministers of Nigeria

question_text: who is the minister of education for nigeria

root

text: List of Education Ministers of Nigeria

text: The following people acted as Education Ministers of Nigeria, including Ministers of State for Education:[1]

tag: p

text:
Aja Nwachukwu (1958 to 1965)
Richard Akinjide (1965 to 1967)
Wenike Briggs (1967 to 1970)
A. Y. Eke (1970 to 1975)
Ahmadu Ali (1975 to 1978)
G. B. Leton (1978 to 1979)
Sylvester Ugoh (1979 to 1982)
Alhaji B. Usman (1979 to 1982)
Elizabeth Iyase (1979 to 1982)
I. C. Madubuike (1982 to 1983)
L. A. Bamigbaiye (1982 to 1983)
Sunday Afolabi (September to December 1983)
Alhaji Y. Abdullahi (1984 to 1985)
Alhaji Ibrahim (1985)
Jubril Aminu (1985 to 1989)
Babs Fafunwa (1990 to 1992)
Ben Nwabueze (January 1993 to August 1993)
A. I. Imogie (January 1993 to November 1993)
Alhaji Dongodaji (January 1993 to January 1994)
Iyorchia Ayu (January 1994 to February 1995)
Alhaji Wada Nas (January 1995 to February 1995)
M. T. Liman (February 1995 to December 1997)
Iyabo Anisulowo (February 1997 to December 1997)
Alhaji D. Birmah (December 1997 to June 1998)
A. N. Achunine (December 1997 to June 1998)
Olaiya Oni (August 1998 to May 1999)
Alhaji S. Saadu (August 1998 to May 1999)
Tunde Adeniran (June 1999 to January 2001)
Alhaji Lawam Batagarawa (June 1999 to 2001)
Babalola Borishade (February 2001 to June 2003)
Alhaji Bello Usman (February 2001 to June 2003)
F. N. C. Osuji (July 2003 to February 2005)
Hajia Bintu Musa (July 2003 to June 2005)
Chinwe Obaji (June 2005 to June 2006)
Halima Tayo Alao (June 2005 to 2006)
Grace Ogwuche (February 2006 to June 2006)
Oby Ezekwesili (June 2006 to April 2007)
Sayadi Abba Ruma (June 2006 to April 2007)
Adewunmi Abitoye (June 2006 to May 2007)
Igwe Aja Nwachukwu (June 2007 to December 2008)
Jerry Agada (June 2007 to December 2008)
Hajia Aishatu Jibril Dukku (June 2007 - ?)
Sam Egwu (December 2008 to March 2010)
Ruqqayat Rufai (April 2010 – September 2013)
Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau (2014 - 2015)[2]
Adamu Adamu (November 2015 – Present) [3]

tag: ul


document_title: List of mountains of Alberta

question_text: a mountain in alberta that starts with j

text: List of mountains of Alberta

text: List of Mountains[edit]

text:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

text:
Peak
Height (m)
Height (ft)
Range
Remarks

Adam Joachim
3094
10150
Winston Churchill Range

Aeolus
2643
8671
Bosche Range

Alberta
3619
11874
Winston Churchill Range

Allan
2819
9249
Kananaskis Range

Allen
3310
10860
Sundance Range
Part of the Valley of the Ten Peaks

Allenby
2901
9518
Sundance Range

Andromeda
3450
11319
Columbia Icefield

Anthozoan
2695
8842
Slate Range

Apparition
3002
9850
Palliser Range

Aquila
2730
8957

named after the eagles in the area

Arethusa
2912
9554
Misty Range

Armstrong
2823
9262
High Rock Range
On the continental divide

Association
2362
7749

Assiniboine
3616
11864
Assiniboine Group
On the

Astley
2869
9413
Palliser Range

Athabasca
3491
11454
Columbia Icefield

Aurora
2789
9151
Blue Range

Aye
3236
10617
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Aylmer
3162
10374
Palliser Range

Babel
3101
10174
Bow Range

Baker
3180
10433
Waputik Mountains
On the Continental Divide

Baldy
2192
7192
Fisher Range

Ball
3311
10863
Ball Range
On the Continental Divide

Balfour
3284
10772
Waputik Range

Banded
2934
9626

Beatrice
3125
10253
Ball Range
On the Continental Divide

Beatty
3004
9856
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Beaupré
2778
9115
Victoria Cross Ranges

Beehive (High Rock)
2895
9498
High Rock Range
On the Continental Divide

Beehive (Lake Louise)
2270
7448
Bow Range

Beersheba
3054
10019
Sundance Range

Bishop
2850
9350
Elk Range

Birdwood
3097
10161
Spray Mountains

Black Prince
2939
9642
Spray Mountains

Blane
2993
9820
Opal Range

Block
2935
9630
Sawback Range

Bluerock
2789
9150

Bogart
3144
10315
Kananaskis Range

Bolton
2705
8875
High Rock Range
On the continental divide

Bonnet
3235
10614
Sawback Range

Bourgeau
2930
9613
Massive Range

Brachiopod
2667
8750
Slate Range

Brazeau
3525
11562
Brazeau Range

Brett
2984
9790
Massive Range

Brewster
2859
9380
Vermilion Range

Bridgland
2930
9613
Victoria Cross Ranges

Bryant
2629
8625
Fisher Range

Buller
2805
9203
Kananaskis Range

Burney
2934
9626
Opal Range

Burns
2936
9633

Burstall
2760
9055
Spray Mountains

Byng
2930
9613
Blue Range

Caldron
2909
9542
Waputik Range

Campion
2484
8150
Hoff Range

Caribou
1030
3378
Caribou Mountains
Range in northern Alberta wetlands

Cascade
2998
9836
Vermillion Range

Castle
2766
9072
Sawback Range

Charles Stewart
2809
9216
Fairholme Range

Cautley
2870
9420
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Cave
2650
8960
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Chephren
3307
10850
Waputik Range
Former name: Pyramid Mountain

Chester
3054
10020
Kananaskis Range

Cirque Peak
2993
9820

Citadel
2625
8612

On the Continental divide

Cockscomb
2776
9108
Sawback Range

Columbia
3747
12294
Winston Churchill Range
Highest peak in Alberta

Commonwealth
2775
9104
Spray Mountains

Compression
2545
8351
Fisher Range

Cone
2910
9548
Sundance Range
On the continental divide

Confederation
2969
9741
Winston Churchill Range

Consort
2883
9459
Victoria Cross Ranges

Copper
2795
9170
Ball Range

Cordonnier
3012
9882
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Cornwall
2970
9744

Cornwell
2972
9750
Kananaskis Range
On the continental divide

Cory
2802
9193
Sawback Range

Cougar
2863
9394

Cromwell
3330
10926
Winston Churchill Range

Crowfoot
3055
10023

Site of Crowfoot Glacier

Crowsnest
2785
9137
Crowsnest Range
Southernmost peak in Alberta

Currie
2770
9088
Blue Range

Cypress
1468
4816
Cypress Hills
Highest point between Rockies and Labrador

Deltaform
3424
11233
Bow Range
Part of the Valley of the Ten Peaks

Denny
2980
9777
Opal Range

Diadem
3371
11060
Winston Churchill Range

Eagle
2820
9252

Edith
2554
8381
Sawback Range

Edith Cavell
3363
11034
South Jasper Range

Elpoca
3036
9961
Opal Range

End Mountain
2453
8048

Engadine
2970
9745
Kananaskis Range

Engelhard
3270
10729
Winston Churchill Range

Evan Thomas
3098
10164
Opal Range

Fable
2702
8865
Fairholme Range

Fatigue
2950
9678
Park Ranges
On the Continental divide

Fairview
2744
9003
Bow Range
Also called Mount Fairview

Fiddle
2243
7359
Fiddle Range

Fifi
2621
8599
Sawback Range

The Fist
2630
8629
Spray Mountains

Finger
2545
8350
Sawback Range
Unofficial name

Fisher
3053
10019
Fisher Range

Flints
2950
9682
Vermilion Range

Mount Foch
3194
10479
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Forbes
3612
11851
Central Icefields

Forgetmenot
2332
7651

Fox
2973
9754
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

The Fortress
3000
9843
Kananaskis Range

Fossil
2946
9666
Slate Range

Fryatt
3361
11027

South of Edith Cavell

French
3244
10643
Spray Mountains

Fullerton
2728
8950
Fisher Range

Galatea
3185
10450
Kananaskis Range

Galwey
2377
7799
Crowsnest Range

Gap (Mountain)
2675
8776
Opal Range

Gec
3130
10270
Winston Churchill Range

Gibraltar
2665
8743
Highwood Range

Girouard
2995
9872
Fairholme Range

Glasgow
2935
9629

Mount Gloria
2889
9478
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Goatview
2804
9199
Goat Range (Kananaskis)

Golden
2933
9623
Park Ranges
On the Continental divide

Gong
3120
10237
Winston Churchill Range

Gordon
3161
10368
Waputik Range

Grant MacEwan
2149
7051
Bow Valley

Grotto
2706
8878
Fairholme Range

Gusty
3000
9843
Kananaskis Range

Ha Ling Peak
2407
7897

Former name: Chinaman's Peak

Haiduk
2920
9581
Ball Range
On the continental divide

Head
2782
9127
Highwood Range

Heart
2135
7004
Bow Valley

Heather
2636
8650
Slate Range

Hector
3394
11135
Murchison Group

Hermione
2820
9252
Spray Mountains

Highwood
2850
9350
Highwood Range

Holy Cross
2650
8694
Highwood Range

Howard
2777
9111
Fisher Range

Howard Douglas
2877
9439
Park Ranges

Howse
3295
10810
Waputik Range

Hungabee
3492
11457
Bow Range
On the continental divide

Indefatigable
2667
8750
Spray Mountains

Inglismaldie
2964
9725
Fairholme Range

Inflexible
3000
9843
Kananaskis Range

Invincable
2700
8858
Spray Mountains

Isabelle
2926
9600
Ball Range

Ishbel
2908
9541
Sawback Range

James Walker
3035
9958
Kananaskis Range

Jellicoe
3075
10089
Spray Mountains

Jerram
2996
9829
Opal Range

Joffre
3450
11319
Elk Range
On the continental divide

John Laurie
2240
7349
Bow Valley
Also named Mount Yamnuska

Jumpingpound
2240
7347
Kananaskis Range

Junction
2697
8848
Highwood Range

Kent
2635
8645
Kananaskis Range

Kerr
2560
8399
Victoria Cross Ranges

Kenow
2697
8850
Clark Range
On the continental divide

Kidd
2958
9705

King Albert
2972
9751

King Edward (Peak)
2789
9150
Canadian Rockies

King Edward (Mount)
3490
11451
Columbia Icefield

Kitchener
3505
11500
Winston Churchill Range

Lady Macdonald
2606
8550
Fairholme Range

Lawrence Grassi
2682
8799

Lawson
2795
9170
Kananaskis Range

Lefroy
3423
11231
Bow Range
On the continental divide

Leman
2724
8937

On the Continental divide

Mount Leval
2733
8967
Blue Range
On the continental divide

Lipalian
2710
8892
Slate Range

Lipsett
2575
8448
Misty Range

Little Alberta
2956
9700
Winston Churchill Range

Loder
2088
6850

Loomis
2798
9880
Elk Range (Canada)
On the continental divide

Lougheed
3107
10194
Kananaskis Range

Louis
2682
8800
Sawback Range

Lunette
3428
11247
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Lyautey
3045
9990
Park Ranges

Lyell
3504
11493
Central Icefields
On the continental divide

Maclaren
2843
9327
High Rock Range
On the continental divide

Mahood
2896
9502
Victoria Cross Ranges

Marlborough
2964
9724
Park Ranges

Marvel
2650
8694
Blue Range

Massive
2435
7889
Massive Range

Maude
3043
9984
Spray Mountains
On the continental divide

McDougall
2726
8944
Fisher Range

McGuire
3030
9941
Winston Churchill Range

McPhail
2883
9459
Elk Range
On the continental divide

Mercer
2970
9744
Sundance Range

Michener
2545
8350
Ram Range

Midnight
2340
7677
Fisher Range

Mist
3140
10302
Misty Range

Mitchell
3040
9974
Winston Churchill Range

Monarch
2777
9111
Victoria Cross Ranges

Moose
2437
7996
Kananaskis Range

Morden Long
3040
9974
Winston Churchill Range

Morrison
2896
9502
Blue Range

Muir
2758
9050
High Rock Range
On the continental divide

Murray
3026
9928
Spray Mountains

Mushroom
3210
10532
Winston Churchill Range

Nanga Parbat
3240
10630
Park Ranges

Nasswald
3042
9980
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Nelson
3150
10335
Winston Churchill Range

Neptuak
3233
10607
Bow Range
Part of the Valley of the Ten Peaks

Nestor
2970
9744
Goat Range (Kananaskis)

Niblock
2976
9764
Bow Range

Nigel
3211
10535
Columbia Icefield

Norquay
2522
8275
Vermilion Range

North Twin
3684
12087
Winston Churchill Range
Part of the Twin Peaks massif

Northover
2999
9839
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Observation
3174
10413

Odlum
2695
8842
Elk Range (Canada)
On the continental divide

Og
2863
9393
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Old Fort
2380
7808

Old Goat
3120
10236
Goat Range (Kananaskis)

Oliver
2865
9400
Victoria Cross Ranges

Outlaw
2957
9701

Oyster
2777
9111
Sawback Range

Packenham
3000
9843
Opal Range

Palmer
3150
10335
Winston Churchill Range

Panther
2943
9656
Bare Range

Patterson
3191
10466
Waputik Range

Patterson's
2728
8950
Highwood Range

Peechee
2935
9630
Fairholme Range

Pétain
3196
10486
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Peyto
2980
9777
Waputik Range

Pharaoh
2713
8901
Park Ranges

Pigeon
2394
7854
Bow Valley

Piggy Plus
2760
9055
Spray Mountains

Pika
3053
10017
Slate Range

Pilot
2935
9629
Massive Range

Pocaterra
2941
9650
Elk Range

Poilus
3166
10384
Waputik Range

Pope's
3163
10378
Bow Range

Potts
2980
9777
Opal Range

Prairie
2214
7264

Princess Margaret
2515
8252
Fairholme Range

Prow
2858
9377
Vermilion Range

Ptarmigan
3035
9958
Slate Range

Puma
3120
10236
Palliser Range

Putnik
2940
9646
Kananaskis Range

Pyramid
2766
9075
Victoria Cross Ranges

Pyriform
2789
9150
Highwood Range

Mount Queen Elizabeth
2846
9337

Rae
3218
10558
Misty Range

Red Man
2905
9531
Blue Range

Redoubt
2902
9521
Slate Range

Remus
2688
8819
Fisher Range

Revenant
3065
10056
Palliser Range

Richardson
3086
10125
Slate Range

The Rimwall
2685
8809

Ringrose
3292
10801
Bow Range

Roche à Bosche
2123
6965
Bosche Range

Roche à Perdrix
2135
7002
Fiddle Range

Roche Jacques
2603
8540
Jacques Range

Roche Ronde
2138
7014
Bosche Range

Roche de Smet
2539
8330
De Smet Range

Romulus
2832
9291
Fisher Range

Rose
2515
8251

Rundle
2948
9338
South Banff Range

Rutherford
2847
9340
Northern Front Ranges

Saddle
2835
9301

Saint Nicholas
2970
9745
Canadian Rockies

Sarbach
3155
10351

Sarrail
3159
10364
Park Ranges

Saskatchewan
3342
10965
Columbia Icefield

Scarab
2918
9573
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Sentinel
2373
7785
Livingstone Range

Shark
2786
9140
Spray Mountains

Sirdar
2820
9252
Colin Range

Signal
2312
7585
Maligne Range

Sir Douglas
3411
11191

Skoki
2707
8882
Slate Range

Smith Dorrien
3151
10338
Spray Mountains

Smuts
2938
9639
Spray Mountains

Smythe
3246
10650
Winston Churchill Range

Snaring
2931
9617
Victoria Cross Ranges

Snow Dome
3520
11546
Winston Churchill Range
On the continental divide

Snow Peak
2800
9187

On the continental divide

South Ghost
2700
8858

South Twin
3566
11700
Winston Churchill Range
Part of the Twin Peaks massif

Sparrowhawk
3121
10240
Kananaskis Range

St. Piran
2649
8691
Bow Range

Stenton
2815
9236
Fairholme Range

Stoney Squaw
1868
6129
Vermilion Range

Storm
3095
10153
Misty Range

Strachan
2687
8816
High Rock Range
On the continental divide

Sundance
2902
9521
Sundance Range

Squaw's Tit
2514
8248
Fairholme Range
Unofficial name

Storelk
2871
9149
Elk Range (Canada)
On the continental divide

Stutfield
3450
11319
Winston Churchill Range

Sulphur
2451
8042
South Banff Range
A gondola runs to the peak

Sunwapta
3315
10875
Queen Elizabeth Ranges

Temple
3543
11624
Bow Range

Terrapin
2954
9692
Park Ranges
On the Continental divide

Thorington Tower
3155
10352
Winston Churchill Range

Three Sisters
2936
9632
South Banff Range

Threepoint
2595
8514

Tombstone
3029
9938
Opal Range

The Tower
3124
10250
Kananaskis Range

The Towers
2842
9324
Park Ranges
On the Continental divide

Townsend
2820
9252

Trapper
2988
9803
Wapta Icefield

Tunnel
1692
5551
Bow Valley

Turbulent
2850
9350

Turner
2806
9206
Blue Range

The Turret
2580
8465
Park Ranges

Turtle
2210
7251
Blairmore Range
1903 Frank Slide

Tuzo
3246
10650
Canadian Rockies
Part of the Valley of the Ten Peaks

Tyrwhitt
2874
9430
Elk Range

Unwin
3268
10722
Queen Elizabeth Ranges

Utopia
2563
8410
Miette Range

Vavasour
2830
9318
Blue Range

Wapta
2782
9125
Waputik Range

Waputik
2755
9036
Waputik Range

Warre
2771
9091
Blue Range

Warrior
2937
9636
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Warwick
2906
9535
Clemenceau Icefield

Wasootch
2330
7644
Fisher Range

Wedge
2665
8795
Kananaskis Range

Weiss
3090
10138
Winston Churchill Range

Whistling Rock
2971
9747

White Man
2967
9734
Blue Range

Whitehorn
2637
8652
Slate Range

Whyte
2983
9787
Bow Range

Wilcox
2884
9,462
Columbia Icefield

William Booth
2728
8950
Ram Range

Wind
3153
10344
Kananaskis Range

Windtower
2697
8848

Wintour
2700
8858
Opal Range

Wonder
2850
9350
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

Woolley
3405
11171
Winston Churchill Range

Mount Worthington
2915
9564
Park Ranges
On the continental divide

tag: table

text: Highest peaks[edit]

text:
Mount Columbia - 3,747 m (12,293 ft)
Twin Peaks massif - 3,684 m (12,087 ft)
Mount Alberta - 3,619 m (11,873 ft)
Mount Assiniboine - 3,616 m (11,864 ft)
Mount Forbes - 3,612 m (11,850 ft)
Mount Temple - 3,543 m (11,624 ft)
Mount Brazeau - 3,525 m (11,565 ft)
Snow Dome - 3,520 m (11,549 ft)
Mount Kitchener - 3,505 m (11,499 ft)
Mount Lyell - 3,504 m (11,496 ft)

text: List of ranges[edit]

text:
Bare Range
Blairmore Range
Blue Range
Bosche Range
Brazeau Range
Caribou Mountains
Clark Range (Border Ranges)
Colin Range
Elk Range
Fairholme Range
Fiddle Range
Fisher Range
High Rock Range
Highwood Range
Jacques Range
Kananaskis Range
Livingstone Range
Maligne Range
Massive Range
Miette Range
Misty Range
Opal Range
Palliser Range
Queen Elizabeth Ranges
Ram Range
Sawback Range
Slate Range
De Smet Range
Valley of the Ten Peaks
Vermilion Range
Victoria Cross Ranges
Waputik Range
President Range
Winston Churchill Range

text: List of passes[edit]

text: The Rockies are crossed through east-west alpine passes, such as:

text:
Abbot Pass
Crowsnest Pass
Kicking Horse Pass
Kiwetinok Pass
Sunwapta Pass
Weary Creek Gap
Yellowhead Pass