NEW TOPIC: "FOR THE BIRDS"!

These are all...

varying types of...

Ruffs.

The Ruff is a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows across northern Eurasia.

This highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds, which include southern and western Europe, Africa, southern Asia and Australia.

Ruffs are best known for their bizarre courtship plumage and rituals. In spring, male Ruffs are wildly variable in color and pattern of their neck ruffs and head tufts; they gather on display grounds, or "leks," and display to attract females. Rudimentary displays are occasionally seen from spring migrant Ruffs in North America.

Another grouping of our feathered friends!  Once it gets warmer maybe  we can get some photos of returning feathered friends to our yards!

The scarlet ibis (Eudocimus ruber) is a species of ibis in the bird family Threskiornithidae. It inhabits tropical South America and islands of the Caribbean. In form it resembles most of the other twenty-seven extant species of ibis, but its remarkably brilliant scarlet coloration makes it unmistakable. It is one of the two national birds of Trinidad and Tobago.

A one year old

This medium-sized wader is a hardy, numerous, and prolific bird, and it has protected status around the world. Its IUCN status is Least Concern. The legitimacy of Eudocimus ruber as a biological classification, however, is in dispute. Traditional Linnaean taxonomyclassifies it as a unique species, but some scientists have moved to reclassify it as a subspecies of a more general American ibis species, along with its close relative, the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus).

The species was first classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Initially given the binomial nomenclature of Scolopax rubra[2] (the name incorporates the Latin adjective ruber, "red"), the species was later designated Guara rubraand ultimately Eudocimus ruber.[3]

Biologically the scarlet ibis is very closely related to the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) and is sometimes considered conspecific with it,[2][4] leaving modern science divided over their taxonomy. The two birds each have exactly the same bones, claws, beaks, feather arrangements and other features – their one marked difference lies in their pigmentation.[5] Traditional taxonomy has regarded the two as separate and distinct.[5]

Early ornithological field research revealed no natural crossbreeding among the red and white, lending support to the two-species viewpoint.[5] More recent observation, however, has documented significant crossbreeding and hybridization in the wild. Researchers Cristina Ramo and Benjamin Busto found evidence of interbreeding in a population where the ranges of the scarlet and white ibises overlap along the coast and in the Llanos in Colombia and Venezuela. They observed individuals of the two species mating and pairing, as well as hybrid ibises with pale orange plumage, or white plumage with occasional orange feathers, and have proposed that these birds be classified as a single species.[2] Hybridization has been known to occur frequently in captivity. However, the two color forms persist in the wild despite overlapping ranges and hybrid offspring having a distinctive color type, so according to the cohesion species concept they would be functionally different species.[6]

Some biologists now wish to pair them with Eudocimus albus as two subspecies of the same American ibis.[2] Others simply define both of them as one and the same species, with ruber being a color variation of albus.

Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves, characterized by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm (2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m (9 ft) ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species,[3] more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have wingswhose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which evolved from forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming

Birds are a group of feathered theropoddinosaurs, and constitute the only living dinosaurs, and thus are reptiles. Likewise, the closest living relatives of birds are the crocodilians. Birds are descendants of the primitive avialans (whose members include Archaeopteryx) which first appeared about 160 million years ago (mya) in China. According to DNA evidence, modern birds (Neornithes) evolved in the Middle to Late Cretaceous, and diversified dramatically around the time of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 mya, which killed off the pterosaurs and all non-avian dinosaurs.

Many social species pass on knowledge across generations, which is considered a form of culture. Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and songs, and participating in such behaviours as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of bird species are socially (but not necessarily sexually) monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years, but rarely for life. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous (one male with many females) or, rarely, polyandrous (one female with many males). Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction. They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents. Most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching.

Many species of birds are economically important as food for human consumption and raw material in manufacturing, with domesticated and undomesticated birds being important sources of eggs, meat, and feathers. Songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano (bird excrement) is harvested for use as a fertiliser. Birds figure throughout human culture. About 120 to 130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, and hundreds more before then. Human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry.

Stunning Hummingbird Photos You Need to See

Step into the world of hummingbirds with these amazing reader photos.

Here are a couple of cool photos with birds in them! The one with the Lighthouse is Heceta Hear on the Oregon's Pacific Coast. 

Another great bird photo!

What amazing colorings the Strawberry Finch have!