Burke Museum 4/26

Today we went to the Burke Museum to learn about the birth and death of birds, as well as the competition that can exist between species. I found it fascinating that Marbled Murrelets are splotchy in color while juveniles, and then either turn mostly dark brown or white as adults. The reason why this was fascinating to me was because I thought it initially had to do with sex, when in fact they molt to dark brown plumage during their breeding season. We also learned about competition between The Brown-Headed Cowbird and the bird nests' it chooses to dump its eggs in. The Cowbird has lost its ability to raise its young itself, so it stashes its eggs in other birds like the Robin or Townsend's Warblers nests and then collects their young later when they have hatched. I also learned about how the majority of birds are monogamous and have a partner they return to. This type of breeding is common among pheasants. Others are polyandrous and have multiple partners to produce as many young as possible. Since most small birds can only lay 1 egg a day, this gives incentive for male birds to have multiple partners.

Species List:
Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus)
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
North American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Townsend's Warbler (Dendroica townsendi)
Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
Silver Pheasant (Lophura nycthemera)

Posted on May 1, 2012 02:55 AM by lmcthe01