Phalacrocorax

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, endothermic (warm-blooded), vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the 5 cm (2 in) Bee Hummingbird to the 2.7 m (9 ft) Ostrich. The fossil record indicates that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic period, around 150–200 Ma (million years ago), and the earliest known bird is the Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx, c 155–150 Ma. Most paleontologists regard birds as the only clade of dinosaurs that survived the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event approximately 65.5 Ma.

Many species are of economic importance, mostly as sources of food acquired through hunting or farming. Some species, particularly songbirds and parrots, are popular as pets. Other uses include the harvesting of guano (droppings) for use as fertilizers. Birds figure prominently in all aspects of human culture from religion to poetry to popular music. About 120–130 species have become extinct as a result of human activity since the 17th century, and hundreds more before then. Currently about 1,200 species of birds are threatened with extinction by human activities, though efforts are underway to protect them.

Bird Emu

The word emu comes from the Portuguese word 'ema', which means 'large bird'. Standing up to 2 m tall, adult male emus are Australia's largest birds. In size, they are second only to ostriches in the world. Their powerful legs give them great speed, some running up to 50 km per hour. At full pace, an emu's stride can measure up to 3 m.

The emu belongs to a group of flightless running birds with flat breastbones known as ratites. Ratites are the oldest of modern bird families. They include kiwis, ostriches and cassowaries. The emu's feathers are very primitive and look like a form of coarse hair. The special nature of these feathers enables emus to cope with extreme changes in weather.

The emu's tracheal pouch, which is part of its windpipe, is used for communication. It is over 30 cm long and very thin-walled, and it allows the bird to produce deep guttural grunts. This pouch develops fully during the breeding season and is most frequently used during courtship.

White -Tailed Eagle

The white-tailed eagle - also known as the sea eagle or white-tailed sea eagle - is a huge bird with broad wings up to 245 cm (over 8 feet) wide. White-tailed eagles became extinct in Britain in the early 1900s and despite a lengthy re-introduction scheme, their numbers in Scotland are still very low. The work to reintroduce the species has been hampered by the theft of eggs. This has led to local initiatives, such as Mull Eagle Watch, to help protect eagle nests.

The adult white-tailed eagle's huge size, relatively large pale buff coloured head, huge bill and short, wedge-shaped and pure white tail are very distinctive. Newly fledged young are much darker, gradually gaining adult plumage over 5 - 6 years. White-tailed eagle are quite vocal and call far more often than golden eagles. The call is a mixture of a bark and a yelp, and sounds rather strange coming from such an impressive bird.

Maleo

The maleo is a large, black and white bird with a high-flying medium-length tail. As its different name, maleo megapode suggests, it has normally large feet. This striking bird has a individual bony, dark casque on its crown, a yellowish face, and a naked pale bill . The thighs are black, and the belly white, with pink hues on the breast . This unusual bird is usually silent but, particularly around nesting sites, it can emit quite strange noises. These include loud braying and, when in disputes, a duck-like quacking

Jackdaw

The jackdaw typically takes food from the ground but does get some food in trees. It eats insects and other invertebrates, weed seeds and particle, scraps of human food in towns, trapped fish on the shore, and will more eagerly take food from bird tables than other Corvus species.The Jackdaw is a small, black, gray-naped Eurasian crow. The 1984 records were among the first of a number of occurrences in eastern North America, obviously representing a natural, transoceanic vagrancy (Smith 1985).

In some cultures, a jackdaw on the top is said to expect a new arrival; otherwise, a jackdaw settling on the roof of a house is an omen of death and coming across one is measured a bad premonition.

Mallard

The mallard is 56–65 cm long, has a wingspan of 81–98 cm, and weighs 750–1,000 g. The procreation male is distinctive, with a green head, black rear end and a yellow bill tipped with black. The female Mallard is light brown, like most female dabbling ducks. However, both the female and male Mallards have dissimilar blue speculum edged with white, important in flight or at rest. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage the drake becomes drab, looking more like the female, but still noticeable by its yellow bill and reddish breast.

The Mallard is a rare model of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds. Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be bigger than related ones from warmer climates, has many examples in birds. Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears lean to be smaller in polar forms to diminish heat loss, and larger in steamy and desert equivalents to ease heat dispersion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall. Examples of this rule in birds are rare, as they lack exterior ears. However, the bill of ducks is very well supplied with blood vessels and is defenseless to cold.

Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of victim in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once general across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more greatly populated areas. It has a wingspan averaging over 2 m (7 ft) and up to 1 m (3 ft) in body length.

Adult Golden Eagles range generally in size across their range. The largest subspecies are among the largest eagles of the type Aquila. Length may vary from 66 to 100 cm (26–40 in), wingspan can range from 150 to 240 cm (59–95 in), and weight is from 2.5 to 7 kg (5.5–15.4 lb). As with many Falconiformes, females are noticeably larger than males, in the case of the Golden Eagle they weigh one-fourth to one-third again as much as male birds.

The plumage colours range from black-brown to dark brown, with a striking golden-buff crown and nape, which give the bird its name. The upper wings also have an uneven lighter area. Adolescent birds resemble adults, but have a duller more mottled exterior. Also they have a white-banded tail and a white scrap at the carpal joint, that regularly disappear with every moult until full adult plumage is reached in the fifth year.