Page 470 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

GLOSSARY
GLOSSARY

Many of the terms defined here are • FAMILY A category in classification, • RACE See SUBSPECIES.
illustrated in the general introduction grouping species or genera that are • RARE Found in small numbers or
(pp. 8–53). For anatomical terms see also closely related; ranked at a higher level very low densities, although not
pp.10–11. than the genus. necessarily at risk.
• FLIGHT FEATHER Any one of the • SCAPULAR Any one of a group of
• ADULT A fully mature bird, able to long feathers on the wing (primaries and feathers on the shoulder, forming a more
breed, showing the final plumage pattern secondaries). or less oval patch each side of the back, at
that no longer changes with age. • FOREWING The front part of a the base of the wing.
• BARRED With marks crossing the wing, including the outer primaries, • SECONDARY Any one of the long
body, wing, or tail. primary coverts, and secondary coverts. flight feathers forming the trailing edge
• BROOD Young produced from a • GAPE A bird’s mouth, or the angle at of the inner wing, growing from the ulna
single clutch of eggs incubated together. the base of the bill. or “arm”.
• CALL Vocal sound often • GENUS (pl. GENERA) A category • SECURE The population is under no
characteristic of a particular species, in classification: a group of closely related current threat.
communicating a variety of messages. species, whose relationship is recognized • SONG Vocalization with character
• COLONY A group of nests of a by the same first name in the scientific particular to the individual species, used
highly social species, especially among terminology, e.g. Larus in Larus fuscus. to communicate a claim to a breeding
seabirds but also others such as the Sand • HINDWING The rear part of the territory and attract a mate.
Martin and Rook. wing, including the secondary feathers, • SONG-FLIGHT A special flight,
• COVERT A small feather in a well- especially when it has a distinctive colour often with a distinctive pattern,
defined tract, on the wing or at the base or pattern. combined with a territorial song.
of the tail, covering the base of the larger • HYBRID The result of cross- • SPECIES A group of living organisms,
flight feathers. breeding between two species; usually individuals of which can interbreed to
• CRYPTIC Describes plumage pattern infertile. Rare in the wild. produce fertile young, but do not
and colours that make a bird difficult to • IMMATURE Not yet fully adult or normally breed, or cannot produce fertile
see in its favoured habitat. able to breed; there may be several young, with a different species.
• DABBLE To feed in shallow water, identifiable plumages during immaturity • SPECULUM A colourful patch on
with rapid movements of the bill, sieving but many small birds are mature by the a duck’s hindwing, formed by the
water through fine comb-like teeth to first spring after they have fledged. secondary feathers.
extract food. • INNER WING The inner part of the • STREAKED With small marks that
• DECLINING Populations undergoing wing, comprising the secondaries and run lengthwise along the body.
a steady decline over a number of years. rows of coverts (typically marginal, lesser, • SUBSPECIES A race; a recognizable
• DIMORPHIC Having two forms: median, and greater coverts). group within a species, isolated
sexually dimorphic means that the male • JUVENILE A bird in its first geographically but able to interbreed
and female of a species look different; plumage, that in which it makes its first with others of the same species.
otherwise indicates two colour forms. flight, before its first moult in the autumn. • SUPERCILIARY STRIPE A stripe
• DRUMMING Sound made by • LEK A gathering of birds at which of colour running above the eye, like an
woodpeckers with rapid beats of the bill males display communally, with mock eyebrow.
against a hard object, or by a snipe, fighting, while females choose which one • TERTIAL Any one of a small group
diving through the air with vibrating to mate with. of feathers, sometimes long and obvious,
tail feathers. • LOCALIZED More than 90 per cent at the base of the wing adjacent to the
• EAR TUFT A bunch of feathers on of the population occurs at ten sites or less. inner secondaries.
the head of an owl, capable of being • MOULT The shedding and renewing • UNDERWING The underside of a
raised as a visual signal and perhaps to of feathers in a systematic way; most birds wing, usually visible only in flight or
assist camouflage. have a partial moult and a complete when a bird is preening.
• ECLIPSE The plumage of male moult each year. • UPPERWING The upperside of the
ducks that is adopted during the summer, • MIGRANT A species that spends wing, clearly exposed in flight but often
when they moult and become flightless part of the year in one geographical area mostly hidden when the bird is perched.
for a short time. and part in another, moving between the • VAGRANT An individual bird that
• ENDANGERED Found in very two on a regular basis. (See also p.26.) has strayed beyond the usual geographic
small numbers, in a very small area or in • ORDER A category in classification: range of its species.
a very restricted and declining habitat, so families grouped to indicate their close • VENT The area of feathers between
that the future security of the species is relationship or common ancestry; usually the legs and the undertail coverts.
in doubt. a more uncertain or speculative grouping • VULNERABLE Potentially at risk
• ESCAPEE A bird that has escaped than a family. due to a dependence on a restricted
into the wild from a collection of some • OUTER WING The outer half of habitat or range, or to small numbers.
kind, such as a zoo or wildlife park. the wing, comprising the primaries, their • WINGPIT A group of feathers – the
• EYE PATCH An area of colour coverts, and the alula, or bastard wing axillaries – located at the base of the
around the eye, often in the form of a (the “thumb”). underwing.
“mask”, broader than an eye-stripe. • ORBITAL RING A thin, bare, fleshy • WINGBAR A line of colour
• EYE-RING A more or less circular ring around the eye, sometimes with a produced by a tract of feathers or feather
patch of colour, usually narrow and well- distinctive colour. tips, crossing the closed wing and
defined, around the eye. • PRIMARY Any one of the long running along the spread wing.
• EYE-STRIPE A stripe of distinctive feathers, or quills, forming the tip and • YOUNG An imprecise term to
colour running in front of and behind trailing edge of the outer wing, growing describe immature birds; often meaning
the eye. from the “hand”. juveniles or nestlings.
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