Discuss acuatic birds It does not only refer to a specific family where all of them are grouped, there are many genera, families and orders of species that fall into the classification of seabirds for some characteristic in addition to adaptation to the aquatic environment. Here we will talk a little about them and some examples will be mentioned.
waterfowl
Aquatic or marine birds are those species that belong to the group of birds with adaptations that allow them to live in bodies of water or marine habitats, many of them differ from each other and belong to different orders, as well as the Sea mammals that are very different from each other. However, they have some characteristics in common, such as their behavior, their way of life and in some cases their bodies have mechanisms and functions that are very similar to other birds.
These birds evolved to successfully adapt to environments where the presence of water was evident for long or few kilometers, likewise their diet changed to feed not only on worms, larvae or insects but also on fish and other small species that live in the sea.
In general, many of them come from ancestors that began to present these changes during the Cretaceous, some fossils of clades such as the Hesperomithiformes have disappeared, but they are related to some birds such as the pelecaniformes. Other species seem to have arisen during the Paleogene, during the Miocene many of them spread and were distributed throughout the world, while from the Pilocene until now, more varieties of waterfowl have been seen.
Another thing in common in this type of birds is that their life time is quite long compared to other species that do not even approach large bodies of water, in addition to that their reproduction seems to be a little later because they reach sexual maturity in advanced years, which influences in a certain way that they do not have too many members of their families who are young. In any case, what is the same in almost all of them is that they feed in the water.
A large part of these species are kept in groups called colonies, which can be small (dozens of birds) or large (thousands of birds), among these are those that have migratory habits that lead them to move from one place to another every year. . They can travel long distances to cross the equator or circle the planet to reach places with the ideal temperature for them to start reproducing, feeding and nesting.
In terms of their structure, their organism and their physical characteristics, many of them resemble each other in certain extremities. They are not really the most exotic or impressive species, but their adaptability and behaviors can be quite interesting. The truth is that many of them are part of the list of Endangered animals in the world or at least they are at a considerable level of threat, both due to human activity and climate change.
Other factors that endanger them are: climate change that forces them to change their migratory habits, the alteration or destruction of their habitats that affects those in which they are most of the year or changes their migration routes. Similarly, pollution of all kinds, hunting and fishing. We can say that a large part of the species of the animal kingdom, the kingdom of plants and even fungi have been affected by human activity.
Classification
An approximation of the number of marine species found in the world can be made and it would be 300 species, the number of specimens could exceed 600 million (Of the 300 species, 110 are threatened by different factors), but when speaking of «birds aquatic” does not refer to a taxonomic group in reality, it is the grouping of certain species that have one or another characteristic in common in addition to spending a certain part of their lives in the water or eating from it.
However, some orders can be mentioned for a better organization such as the sphenisciformes, the pelecaniformes, of the charadriiformes only the stercorarids, the sterids, the alcids, the lárids, the rhyncópdos, some species of ardeids, the gaviformes, the podicipediformes, several species of the fetontiformes, anseriformes, some suliformes, others caradriiformes, the procelariiformes. Of all these orders, many species have been considered as aquatic birds until forming that great group of 300.
Her CARACTERISTICS
The first thing that should be mentioned about these species is the adaptation that can be observed in the external appearance of their structure, for example, in the shape of their wings, a clear example is the cormorants that have wings that absorb water better because They do not have as much space for air, this adaptation did not serve them mainly to self-regulate their temperature and thus resist better in the habitat in which they were found.
In this sense, the shape of their wings not only modifies some aspects of their flight, but also the activities they can do with them, such as diving. For the latter, the diving species have wings that are shorter than those that are birds of prey and they only feed on some marine species, other birds have adapted, but their flight is not as propulsive as others, the wandering albatross, for example, does a kind of plan.
Penguins are perhaps the species with the most remarkable adaptation since their wings allow them to move in the water, in addition to that their blood volume is increased compared to other birds so that they can store more oxygen. Another characteristic is that they can regulate their heart rate, as well as direct blood to the organs that need it more than other parts of the body, however they cannot fly. They are birds because of the shape of their body, their organism, their evolutionary line and other aspects.
A characteristic observed in many aquatic birds is that their feet are webbed, so that swimming at the surface is much better and diving is easier. Likewise, their plumage has more resistance to water, although many of these birds have more than others, the quantity helps them to protect themselves better. The truth is that this does not prevent them from flying, their plumage is a little denser preventing them from soaking up water.
Also, on the one hand, this works as another measure of temperature regulation, because they don't lose as much body heat when they are in contact with the water while swimming or diving.
On the other hand, this type of plumage protects them not only from the water but from other species, this is because waterfowl have plumage with more neutral colors that reduce the visibility they have in the sea, for example, gray, black, white or combinations of these. White is ideal so that the species that are inside the sea do not see them easily, which is why many of them have that color on their inside or belly.
This differentiates them from many species that are not marine and live in more tropical places, although not all birds that can be considered marine have these color patterns, flamingos for example, although when asking:Why are flamingos pink?? It will be seen that it has to do with the food it consumes, which are shrimp, algae, crustaceans and plankton, which have canthaxanthin, a compound that allows flamingos to acquire the pigments of these species.
Food
Regarding food, firstly, the supraorbital gland that they have in their nostrils eliminates the salt from their bloodstream, taking their diet is based on small animals found in the sea and that they ingest water in greater quantities. These glands (which are much larger than those of other animals) are vital to them because their kidneys are not able to eliminate the amount of sodium chloride ingested by the animal.
The evolution of these birds was such that it allowed them to get their food from the sea, in the lakes or in the oceans, eating the animals that they get on the surface, chasing their prey when they dive, diving or eating a little more vertebrates. big ones that live in the sea.
As for each way of feeding, those that get food on the surface, for example, just by sinking their heads a little or sometimes not even that, do so because the currents put them within their reach, like squid or krill. This allowed their beaks to also undergo changes so that they could filter the water, to hunt fast prey or to adapt to a specific type of prey. The ones that dive are faster than the ones that swim with only their legs and have a wider diet.
In turn, those that dive from the air when they plummet use less energy than diving birds and their wings are still capable of other things such as flying or walking, the complication of the latter is that they depend on other animals and the current leave food on the surface. There are also species such as seagulls or pelicans that feed on other waterfowl, when these prey are chicks or even when they are in the eggs, the giant guinea pigs eat small penguins.
PREMIUM QUALITY
Among the types of aquatic birds there are some that do present significant adaptations that allow them to live without many problems in a marine habitat, others of them only feed on species found within the sea or on its surface, as well as live in places near bodies of water such as wetlands or lakes.
Seabirds and ducks
Here are placed those vertebrate species that depend on bodies of water not only for food, so they spend part of their lives swimming or diving, these specimens function as modifiers of the ecosystem in which they are found. These are the species that have the densest and most impermeable plumage, as well as membranes on their legs that allow them to swim more easily and resist water better.
Other species do not have such dense plumage, but have long legs like herons or flamingos that allow them to walk through the water without getting wet, while others do have limbs developed for diving like penguins. These can be found in the sea, on the coasts or in lakes where their prey is found. Some of them can fly and others cannot because the adaptation they have in their legs or wings enhance certain marine activities, but limit others on land or in the air.
diving birds
These are birds that inhabit bodies of water that are a little deep, where they can submerge or dive without hurting themselves to find their food underwater. These species have their legs completely adapted to the environment to be able to swim faster, they can also walk, but they only do it to lay their eggs out of the sea, otherwise they live on it. For example, ducks or pelicans.
wading birds
Wading birds are those that live on the surface of the sea or lakes, generally their legs are thin to allow them to walk through the water easily. Their necks are also long to be able to reach prey more easily. An example of these species are the flamingos.
wading birds
These species are similar to herons in that they have long beaks and long legs, some have slightly shorter legs and wider beaks, while others have long, thinner beaks. These can be found in wetlands in the mountains, on beaches, lakes, mangroves and other types of aquatic habitats.
aquatic birds of prey
These are those that do not have any adaptation like the ones mentioned above, but rather their diet is based on animals that can be found in aquatic bodies, such as fish or crustaceans. An excellent example of this is the osprey, which remains fast-flying and only goes near the sea or lakes to hunt.
waterfowl species
Only some bird names Known aquatic organisms will be mentioned in the following list, in addition to those that have been mentioned above as an example of the kinds of birds marine, in any case the orders mentioned are also key points to know the 300 species grouped in this aquatic classification.
- Mallard Duck
- Real duck
- european storm petrel
- common teal
- Black Swan
- common spoon
- european pochard
- royal albatross
- common grebe
- Great Crested Grebe
- Cattle egret
- little egret
- red footed booby
- gray heron
- crankshaft
- american stork
- common coot
- gallineta
- common crane
- kelp gull
- black neck
- jacanas
- Flamencos
- penguins
- Ducks like the Mandarin Duck
- Geese
- giant kingfisher
- european dipper
- little plover
- andean avocet
- large comoran