Creative Prompt #158: Bird

Big Bird (Muppet)

eagle

Bird People of China

toucan

bird cages

penguin

bird feeder

Bird of Paradise

Avian

Birdman of Alcatraz

flips the bird

owl

Birdie (golf)

Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. Langston Hughes

Tweety Bird

cockatoo

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

flamingo

The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock

cockatiel (Penfold for Brian)

Larry Bird

sparrow

Official US State Birds (is there a similar site for other countries, provinces?)

Bird is the Word

Andrew Zuckerman bird photography

bird banding

the birds and the bees

Angry Birds

birdsong

Bird City, Kansas

Cornell Lab of Ornithology (check out their wonderful heron nest web cam)

Alston & Bird LLP

American Bird Conservancy

 

Bird-in-Hand, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

herons

Parrots of Telegraph Hill

hummingbird

Great Backyard Bird Count

parakeet (Penfold for Julie)

Make your response simple. It doesn’t need to be a masterpiece. Take 5 minutes. Just respond and create a creative habit. Please post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog, and how your work relates to the other responses.

The Creative Prompt Project has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. Are you already a member? I created that spot so those of you without blogs or websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted.

Nota bene: Daisy Yellow is having an Index Card a Day Challenge in June & July. I think this project fits in well with the Creative Prompt Project and I agree with Tammy that an index card is a great canvas size.

Definition:Birds (class Aves) are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic (warm-blooded), egg-laying, vertebrate animals. With around 10,000 living species, they are the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. All present species belong to the subclass Neornithes, and inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from the 5 cm (2 in) Bee Hummingbird to the 2.75 m (9 ft) Ostrich. The fossil record indicates that birds emerged within theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic period, around 160 million years (Ma) ago. Paleontologists regard birds as the only clade of dinosaurs to have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 65.5 Ma ago.

Modern birds are characterised by feathers, a beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a lightweight but strong skeleton. All living species of birds have wings—the now extinct flightless moa of New Zealand were the only exception. Wings are evolved forelimbs, and most bird species can fly. Flightless birds include ratites, penguins, and a number of diverse endemic island species. Birds also have unique digestive and respiratory systems that are highly adapted for flight. Some birds, especially corvids and parrots, are among the most intelligent animal species; a number of bird species have been observed manufacturing and using tools, and many social species exhibit cultural transmission of knowledge across generations.

Many species undertake long distance annual migrations, and many more perform shorter irregular movements. Birds are social; they communicate using visual signals and through calls and songs, and participate in social behaviours, including cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of bird species are socially monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years, but rarely for life. Other species have polygynous (“many females”) or, rarely, polyandrous (“many males”) breeding systems. Eggs are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents. Most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching.

Many species are of economic importance, mostly as sources of food acquired through hunting or farming. Some species, particularly songbirds and parrots, are popular as pets. Other uses include the harvesting of guano (droppings) for use as a fertiliser. Birds figure prominently in all aspects of human culture from religion to poetry to popular music. About 120–130 species have become extinct as a result of human activity since the 17th century, and hundreds more before then. Currently about 1,200 species of birds are threatened with extinction by human activities, though efforts are underway to protect them.

Author: Jaye

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

6 thoughts on “Creative Prompt #158: Bird”

      1. You’re so sweet. I finished one of the borders for the Unicorn quilt…that is part of my excuse anyway. OH and I think the three jets flying in that photo might be three birds and the owl is just there…being an owl.

        Did I mention it is hot here? Maybe my brain is fried too? 😀

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