Hummingbirds are birds from the Americas that constitute the family Trochilidae.

They are among the

smallest of birds, most species measuring 7.513 cm (35 in). Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a
hummingbird, the 5-cm bee hummingbird weighing less than a U.S. penny (2.5 g).
They are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound created by their beating wings which flap at
high frequencies audible to humans. They hover in mid-air at rapid wing-flapping rates, typically around 50
times per second, allowing them also to fly at speeds exceeding 15 m/s (54 km/h; 34 mph).[1][2]
Hummingbirds have the highest metabolism of any homeothermic animal.[3] To conserve energy when food is
scarce, and nightly when not foraging, they go into torpor, a state similar to hibernation, slowing metabolic rate
to 1/15th of its normal rate.[4]

Possible beak evolution

Upon maturity, males of one species, Phaethornis longirostris, the long-billed hermit, appear to be evolving a
dagger-like weapon on the beak tip as a secondary sexual trait to defend mating areas.[21]

Evolution
A map of the hummingbird family treereconstructed from analysis of 284 of the world's 338 known species
shows rapid diversification from 22 million years ago. [5] Hummingbirds fall into nine main clades, the Topazes,
Hermits, Mangoes, Brilliants, Coquettes, Patagona, Mountain Gems, Bees, and Emeralds, defining their
relationship to nectar-bearing flowering plants and the birds' continued spread into new geographic areas.[5][6][7][8]
While all hummingbirds depend on flower nectar to fuel their high metabolisms and hovering flight,
coordinated changes in flower- and bill shape stimulated the formation of new species of hummingbirds and
plants. Due to this exceptional evolutionary pattern, as many as 140 hummingbird species can coexist in a
specific region, such as the Andes Mountains.[5]

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order
Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found outside of the
Americas. The group is treated either as a single family, the Alcedinidae, or as a suborder
Alcedines containing three families, Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree
kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water kingfishers). Roughly 90 species of kingfishers are described.
All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have
bright plumage with few differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution,
and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey, as well as
fish, usually caught by swooping down from a perch. While kingfishers are usually thought to live
near rivers and eat fish, most species live away from water and eat small invertebrates. Like
other members of their order, they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or
artificial banks in the ground. A quarter of all kingfishers nest in abandoned termite nests. A few
species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction. In Britain, the word "kingfisher"
normally refers to the common kingfisher.

Diet and feeding

Kingfishers feed on a wide variety of prey. They are most famous for hunting and eating fish, and some species
do specialise in catching fish, but other species take crustaceans, frogs and other amphibians, annelid worms,
molluscs, insects, spiders, centipedes, reptiles (including snakes), and even birds and mammals. Individual
species may specialise in a few items or take a wide variety of prey, and for species with large global
distributions, different populations may have different diets. Woodland and forest kingfishers take mainly
insects, particularly grasshoppers, whereas the water kingfishers are more specialised in taking fish. The redbacked kingfisher has been observed hammering into the mud nests of fairy martins to feed on their nestlings.[6]
Kingfishers usually hunt from an exposed perch; when a prey item is observed, the kingfisher swoops down to
snatch it, then returns to the perch. Kingfishers of all three families beat larger prey on a perch to kill the prey
and to dislodge or break protective spines and bones. Having beaten the prey, it is manipulated and then
swallowed.[4] The shovel-billed kookaburra uses its massive, wide bill as a shovel to dig for worms in soft mud.

Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae, which includes about 310 species.
Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks, and short slender bills (and in some species, these
bills feature fleshy ceres). They primarily feed on seeds, fruits, and plants. This family occurs worldwide, but
the greatest variety is in the Indomalaya and Australasia ecozones. In general, the terms "dove" and "pigeon"
are used somewhat interchangeably. Pigeon is a French word that derives from the Latin pipio, for a "peeping"
chick,[1] while dove is a Germanic word that refers to the bird's diving flight.[2] In ornithological practice, "dove"
tends to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones, but this is in no way consistently applied, and
historically, the common names for these birds involve a great deal of variation between the terms. The species
most commonly referred to as "pigeon" is the rock dove, one subspecies of which, the domestic pigeon, is
common in many cities as the feral pigeon. Pigeons and doves are likely the most common birds in the world.
Doves and pigeons build relatively flimsy nests often using sticks and other debris which may be placed in
trees, on ledges, or on the ground, depending on species. They lay one or two eggs at a time, and both parents
care for the young, which leave the nest after seven to 28 days. [3] Unlike most birds, both sexes of doves and
pigeons produce "crop milk" to feed to their young, secreted by a sloughing of fluid-filled cells from the lining
of the crop. Young doves and pigeons are called "squabs".
The adjective "columbine" refers to pigeons and doves.
Seeds and fruit form the major component of the diets of pigeons and doves. In fact, the family can be divided
into the seed-eating or granivorous species (subfamily Columbinae) and the fruit- and mast-eating or
frugivorous species (the other four subfamilies). The granivorous species typically feed on seed found on the
ground, whereas the frugivorous species tend to feed in trees. There are morphological adaptations that can be
used to distinguish between the two groups; granivores tend to have thick walls in their gizzards, whereas the
frugivores tend to have thin walls. In addition, fruit-eating species have short intestines, whereas those that eat
seeds have longer ones. Frugivores are capable of clinging to branches and even hang upside down to reach
fruit.[12]

In addition to fruit and seeds, a number of other food items are taken by many species. Some, particularly the
ground-doves and quail-doves, take a large number of prey items such as insects and worms. One species, the
atoll fruit dove is specialised in taking insect and reptile prey. Snails, moths and other insects are taken by
white-crowned pigeons, orange fruit doves and ruddy ground doves.[12]

Parrots, also known as psittacines /stsanz/,[2][3] are birds of the roughly 393 species in 92 genera that make
up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three
superfamilies: the Psittacoidea ("true" parrots), the Cacatuoidea (cockatoos), and the Strigopoidea (New
Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution with several species inhabiting temperate
regions in the Southern Hemisphere, as well. The greatest diversity of parrots is in South America and
Australasia.
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed
zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. Most parrots exhibit little or
no sexual dimorphism in the visual spectrum. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.
The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds, and other plant material. A
few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on
floral nectar and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree hollows (or nest boxes in captivity), and lay white
eggs from which hatch altricial (helpless) young.
Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays, and magpies, are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of
some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity as pets. Some parrots are intelligent and talk at
the level of a four-to-five year old human. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade, as well as hunting, habitat
loss, and competition from invasive species, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to
more exploitation than any other group of birds. Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile
charismatic species have also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystems.
The diet of parrots consists of seeds, fruit, nectar, pollen, buds, and sometimes arthropods and other animal
prey. The most important of these for most true parrots and cockatoos are seeds; the evolution of the large and
powerful bill can be explained primarily as an adaptation to opening and consuming seeds. All true parrots
except the Pesquet's parrot employ the same method to obtain the seed from the husk; the seed is held between
the mandibles and the lower mandible crushes the husk, whereupon the seed is rotated in the bill and the
remaining husk is removed.[52] A foot is sometimes used to help hold large seeds in place. Parrots are seed

predators rather than seed dispersers, and in many cases where species are recorded as consuming fruit, they are
only eating the fruit to get at the seed. As seeds often have poisons that protect them, parrots carefully remove
seed coats and other chemically defended fruit parts prior to ingestion. Many species in the Americas, Africa,
and Papua New Guinea consume clay, which releases minerals and absorbs toxic compounds from the gut.[54]
The lories and lorikeets, hanging parrots, and swift parrot are primarily nectar and pollen consumers, and have
tongues with brush tips to collect this source of food, as well as some specialised gut adaptations to
accommodate this diet. Many other species also consume nectar when it becomes available.[55][56]

The peafowl include two Asiatic bird species (the blue or Indian peafowl originally of India and Sri Lanka and
the green peafowl of Myanmar, Indochina, and Java) and one African species (the Congo peafowl native only to
the Congo Basin) of birds in the genera Pavo and Afropavo of the Phasianidae family, the pheasants and their
allies, known for the male's piercing call and, among the Asiatic species, his extravagant eye-spotted tail covert
feathers which he displays as part of a courtship ritual. The term peacock is properly reserved for the male; the
female is known as a peahen, and the immature offspring are sometimes called peachicks.[1]
The functions of the elaborate iridescent coloration and large "train" of peacocks have been the subject of
extensive scientific debate. Charles Darwin suggested they served to attract females, and the showy features of
the males had evolved by sexual selection. More recently, Amotz Zahavi proposed in his handicap theory that
these features acted as honest signals of the males' fitness, since less fit males would be disadvantaged by the
difficulty of surviving with such large and conspicuous structures.
eafowl are omnivores and eat mostly plant parts, flower petals, seed heads, insects and other arthropods,
reptiles, and amphibians. Wild peafowl look for their food scratching around in leaf litter either early in the
morning or at dusk. They retreat to the shade and security of the woods for the hottest portion of the day. These
birds are not picky and will eat almost anything they can fit in their beak and digest. They actively hunt insects
like ants, crickets and termites; millipedes; and other arthropods and small mammals.[23] Indian peafowl also eat
small snakes.[24]
Domesticated peafowl may also eat bread and cracked grain such as oats and corn, cheese, cooked rice and
sometimes cat food. It is noticed by keepers that Peafowl love protein rich food including larvae that infest

granaries, different kinds of meat, as well as vegetables including dark leafy greens, broccoli, carrots, beans,
beets, and peas. They also relish many fruits.[25]