Quail

FACTS
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Coturnix
Scientific Name: Coturnix Coturnix
Type: Bird
Diet: Omnivore
Size (H): 11cm - 20cm (4.5in - 7.8in)
Wing Span: 30cm - 37cm (12in - 14.6in)
Weight: 70g - 140g (2.4oz - 4.9oz)
Top Speed: 24km/h (15mph)
Life Span: 3 - 5 years
Lifestyle: Solitary
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Colour: Brown, Black, White, Blue
Skin Type: Feathers
Favourite Food: Seeds
Habitat: Woodland and forest areas
Average Clutch Size: 6
Main Prey: Seeds, Flowers, Insects
Predators: Cats, Snakes, Raccoons
Distinctive Features: Small body size and brightly coloured eggs

INFORMATION


The quail is a small bird that inhabits woodland and forest areas around the world. There are thought to be more than 15 different species of quail, with each species of quail being found in different parts of the world and all have slightly different appearances depending on how they have adapted to their environment.

Although the quail is very small sized bird, the quail belongs to the same bird family as pheasants. Quails range in size depending on the species from the Japanese quail which is around 10cm tall to the larger mountain quail that can grow up to 25 cm tall. Quails are generally solitary birds and spend most of their time either on their own or in a pair with just one other quail. During the mating season it is common to see large flocks of quails as family groups convoy together in groups of up to 100 quail individuals.



















 Quails do not tend to migrate and therefore spend their lives within the same area. In some parts of the world, quails are kept as poultry birds both for the small amount of meat that they contain and for the quail's brightly coloured eggs. These tiny coloured eggs are seen as a delicacy in some parts of the world and can often be found on menus in posh restaurants. When quails reach 2 months old, they are then able to mate.
 Quails tend to breed in more open areas such as farmland and lay their eggs in nests. Quail clutch sizes can vary between one and 12 eggs depending on the species of quail and the baby quail chicks hatch out of their eggs in less than a month. Although quails are omnivorous animals, they tend to have a primarily vegetarian diet eating seeds, wheat, barley, flowers and fruits but they will also eat insects such as worms and grasshoppers. Around 95% of the quail's diet is thought to consist of plant matter. The quail has many natural predators, mainly due to it's small size. Snakes, raccoons, foxes, squirrels, coyotes, bobcats, skunks, dogs, cats, hawks, owls, rats and weasels are all known to hunt either the quail itself or it's vulnerable eggs. Humans are too predators of the quail but tend to eat those that have been reared in a commercial manner.

Category › birds of pakistan , chakor , partridge , Quail , quail diet , quail pictures , teetar

Starling

Scientific Name: Sturnus vulgaris

Size:                          21.5cm 

Weight:                  75 - 90g 

Wingspan: 37 - 42cm 

Lifespan: 5 years 

Breeding: mid-April 

Number of Clutches: 1-2 

Number of Eggs: 4-9 

Incubation Days: 12-15 

Fledg Days:           20-22 

Habitat:                   Urban and rural settings such as farmland, parks, gardens, towns and sewage farms. 

Distribution:   Europe (except Iberia, Greece), c Asia, WINTERS: s to n Africa, s Asia, INTRODUCED North America, Australasia 

Description

The Starling is quite an unruly bird, noisy and scruffy looking and often in groups seemingly mobbing feeding stations and gardens in a chattering mass. In summer the birds have black-brown feathers with a green and purple iridescence, slight buff edges to the wing feathers, red-brown legs and a long yellow beak with a patch of colour at the base signifying sex, males have blue and females pink. In winter the iridescence fades and white speckles form over the entire upper and lower parts although they are somewhat less pronounced on the wings and rump of the male and the bill fades to a dark grey-brown. Juveniles are grey-brown with a light cream colouration on the throat and large white speckles on the under parts. They have a fast and direct flight and with their triangular and pointed wings drooped back look like little Harrier jets coming in to land in the garden.

Nest

The male builds the nest from grass in a hole in a wall, tree or building, but the female lines it with feathers, wool and moss. The male may decorate the nest with leaves and petals in order to deter parasites and improve his chances of attracting a mate.

Feeding

Starlings seem to feed on just about anything: insects, worms, snails, berries, fruit, scraps, suet. However, they feed only invertebrates - not "junk" food - to their young. Their beak is used to probe the ground and is powerful enough to be opened to part the ground and reach food that is buried, they can also swivel their eyes forward to look along the length of their bill to the area they are probing. They are often found with Lapwings in wetland areas, where they feed on the food that the Lapwings have disturbed - this is called commensal feeding.

Legal Status

Starling populations have declined seriously (by over 70%) in recent times and are on the Red List of birds of high conservation concern. There are several causes of this decline: changes in farming practices, changes in grassland management, loss of invertebrate food through the use of pesticides, fewer nesting sites in urban areas owing to household improvements and poorer survival rates among young birds.

Voice

Starlings are great at mimicry, with examples including machines, such as telephones and car alarms, and other birds such as curlews and Pied Wagtails. Consequently, it's difficult to know what their song is other than a medley of squeaks, clicks and whistles. Male Starlings can be heard singing throughout the year except when they are moulting in July and August.

Category › birds of pakistan , pakistan , Starling , Starling breeding , Starling facts , Starling information , Starling nest , Sturnus vulgaris

Red-Wattled Lapwing

Description

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Aves
Order	Charadriiformes
Family	Charadriidae
Genus	Vanellus

The boldly patterned red-wattled lapwing (Vanellus indicusi) is named for the vivid red, fleshy, wrinkled skin, or wattle, in front of each eye . This wading bird has greyish brown upperparts, except for the jet black head, neck and upper breast . A broad white stripe extends from each eye down the sides of the neck, drawing a clear line between the black and brown plumage. When in flight, the white rump and tail can also be seen, with a broad black band extending across the tail. The bill of the red-wattled lapwing is red with a black tip, the eyes are reddish-brown, and the long legs are bright yellow .

The male and female red-wattled lapwing are similar in appearance, while the juvenile has duller plumage. The juvenile also has a white throat, a greyish-brown breast and a white speckled crown .

A noisy bird, the red-wattled lapwing utters its loud cry both during flight and when on the ground. The call is a series of loud, shrill notes, expressed well by the words ‘did-he-do-it pity-to-do-it’.

Four subspecies of the red-wattled lapwing are normally recognized: Vallenus indicus aigneri, Vallenus indicus indicus, Vallenus indicus lankae andVallenus indicus atronuchalis . Each subspecies differs slightly in the coloration of the upperparts and in size, but more significantly in the glossiness of the plumage. The subspecies V. i. lankaeis the smallest, darkest and glossiest, while V. i. aigneri is the largest and palest .

Also known as

red-wattled plover.

Synonyms

Hoplopterus indicus.

Size

Length: 32 - 35 cm 

Wingspan: 80 - 81 cm 

Weight

110 - 230 g 

Category › birds of pakistan , Indian birds , lapwing , pakistan , Red-Wattled Lapwing

Crow

The Crow is believed to be the most intelligent of all birds.  When trying to open nuts, it will purposely place them in the roadway so cars will crack them open.  Crows are identified by their black feathers, black eyes and the caw-caw sound they make.  Adult crows have a light violet gloss on their body and a greenish blue gloss on their wings.

Crow Food Sources

Crows thrive mainly on corn, thus the reason scarecrows are put up in corn fields as well as other food crops and gardens.  They damage corn crops by tearing open the cobs and exposing them to the weather.  These birds can be seen sometimes following a plow so that they can feast on exposed earthworms.  Although they cause damage to corn crops, crows are very beneficial to farmers by eating the June bugs, grasshoppers, weevils, and other insects that affect farmers’ fields.  They also eat bugs, worms, road kill, mice, berries, spiders, millipedes, snails, salamanders, lizards, small mammals and fast food leftovers.  Crows like to store any excess food they may find.  They usually hide food in areas such as trees or in rain gutters.

Mating, Reproduction Habits of Crows

When courting, the adult crow fluffs his feathers, struts and fly in circle to attract a female crow.  Once mated, the male and female crows stay together for life. Both take turns sitting on the 4-6 eggs in the nest.  When building the nest, younger birds help build the nest and bring food and water to the mother to be.  Building a nest usually take 1-2 weeks of gathering leaves, moss feathers, grass, twigs, and sticks. Baby crows stay in the nest up to 2 months before leaving.  Adult crows can live up to ten years and are 21 inches from beak to tail when fully grown.

Crow Roosting and Migration

Crows are found all around the world except in New Zealand , Antarctica ad South America .  They are found mainly in agricultural lands, farmland and woodlands.  During the fall and winter months, crows “roost” together in packs.  Roosting protects them from predators and always revolves around a major food source.  Crows usually wait nearby until dusk before finding their roosting spot.  Roosts can grow from 100 to thousands of crows.  They have been known to migrate a few hundred miles away from their roost to search for scarce food and then return to the roost at night.

Crows are both migratory and resident.  The Northern Crow usually migrates in the fall through January when the weather can get down to 0 degrees.  Crows have been known to travel over 1500 miles to migrate to agricultural lands.  Southern crows normally do not migrate as do their northern cousins.

Crows can sometime be mistaken to be ravens and vice versa.  Between the two, the Crow is the smallest.  Although the raven is black like the crow, it is the largest of the two species and has a shaggy throat feature as well as a wedge shaped tail that is most recognized when flying.  When in flight, the raven's tail is fanned out.  Ravens also soar more than crows.

More so than most other birds, Crows are also very territorial.  They will come to the aid of unrelated crows in need of help or distress.  Owls and hawks are their main enemies.

Crow Control - Safe, Humane and Effective

As fascinating as these intelligent birds can be to watch in action, there are times when they become a pest, as well as times when they are beneficial.  Crows are helpful when it comes to getting rid of road-kill on our roads, highways and Interstate system.  Animal carcasses are picked at until light enough to be carried out of the path of passing automobiles.  But these birds are usually considered a pest when they come into contact with humans and structures not built as bird houses.  Damage from crows can be tremendous in areas of agriculture as well as health hazards and other damage around people, buildings, airports and many other such areas.

Category › birds of pakistan , crow , crow control , crow facts , crow feeding , crow information

Sparrow

Sparrows are a group of small sized birds that are found in woodlands and across farmlands all around the world. Today, there are thought to be 140 different species of sparrow spread throughout almost every continent.

Historically, the true sparrows were found throughout Europe and in parts of Asia and Northern Africa. However, human travellers that settled on other continents including Australia and America introduced sparrows to these areas, where they are now considered to be part of the native wildlife.

Sparrows are generally small sized birds that can be easily identified by their smoothly rounded heads. Sparrows range in size from the Chestnut sparrow found in Africa, which is just over 10cm in height, to the Parrot-billed sparrow (also found in Africa) that grows to more than 18cm tall.

Sparrows are omnivorous birds that mainly eat seeds and substitute their diet with berries, fruits and small insects. Some sparrow species have also adapted to life in the city where like gulls and pigeons, these plump little birds are known to eat almost anything that they can find.

Due to their small size, sparrows are prey to numerous predators within their native environments all around the world. Cats, dogs, snakes, foxes and birds of prey are just a handful of the natural predators of the sparrow in the wild.

Sparrows breed when the weather begins to warm in the spring, when female sparrows make nests in trees and rafters in which to lay their eggs (an average of 4-5 are laid per clutch). The female sparrow incubates her eggs which hatch in only a couple of weeks, when the vulnerable chicks are cared for until they are strong enough to fledge (leave the nest)

Today, there is little concern over the sparrow populations although it is possible that populations will be affected by the ever changing weather conditions as a result of global warming and therefore, drastic climate change.

Sparrow Facts

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Passeridae

Scientific Name: Passeridae

Type: Bird

Diet: Omnivore

Size (H): 11.4cm - 18cm (4.5in - 7in)

Wing Span: 12cm - 20cm (4.8in - 7.9in)

Weight: 13.4g - 42g (0.5oz - 1.5oz)

Top Speed: 40km/h (25mph)

Life Span: 4 - 7 years

Lifestyle: Flock

Conservation Status: Least Concern

Colour: White, Black, Grey, Brown, Tan, Blue, Yellow

Skin Type: Feathers

Habitat: Countryside and woodland

Average Clutch Size: 4

Main Prey: Insects, Seeds, Berries

Predators: Cats, Snakes, Hawks

Distinctive Features: Small body size and rounded head

Category › bird. , birds of pakistan , pakistani Sparrow , sparrow , Sparrow care , Sparrow diseases , Sparrow information , Sparrow pictures , Sparrows