Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders. Until recently[vague], most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but this arrangement is now known to be polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera.
Gulls are typically medium to large birds, usually grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They typically have harsh wailing or squawking calls, stout, longish bills, andwebbed feet. Gull species range in size from the Little Gull, at 120 g (4.2 oz) and 29 cm (11.5 inches), to the Great Black-backed Gull, at 1.75 kg (3.8 lbs) and 76 cm (30 inches).
Curlew
Curlew is the common name for the bird genus Numenius, a group of eight wader species, characterised by a long slender downcurved bill and mainly brown plumagewith little seasonal change. They are one of the most ancient lineages of scolopacid waders, together with the godwits which look similar but have straight bills (Thomas, 2004). In Europe"Curlew" usually refers to one species, the Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata.
Curlews feed on mud or very soft ground, searching for worms and other invertebrates with their long bills. They will also take crabs and similar items.
The stone-curlews are not true curlews but members of the familyBurhinidae, which is in the same order Charadriiformes, but only distantly related within that.
Sandpipers
Sandpipers are found on shores and in wetlands around the globe, breeding on the Arctic tundra to more temperate climes. This adult Spotted Sandpiper typifies the latter group: it breeds along river and lake shores across temperate North America.
Sandpipers are a highly diverse family which include the ground-dwelling snipes and woodcocks to the highly pelagic Red Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius. Biochemically they seem to have arisen from a single ancestor but underwent an explosive evolution in the early Tertiary after a great wave of extinctions in the late Cretaceous period . Today, the wide variety of sandpipers, and the close relationships of many, present numerous identification challenges. The identification literature alone is impressive. Further, the beautiful patterns and colors on juvenal-plumaged birds are among the most striking in the world, while the striking breeding plumage feathers serve to camouflage adults on their breeding grounds on the arctic tundra. Many of these arctic breeders spend the non-breeding period well south of the Equator, brightening the lives of birders in the austral summer
Barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod belonging to infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings. They are sessile suspension feeders, and have two nektonic larval stages. Around 1,220 barnacle species are currently known. The name "Cirripedia" is Latin, meaning "curl-footed".
Mollusca
The Mollusca, common name molluscs or mollusks, is a large phylum of invertebrateanimals. There are around 85,000 recognized extant species of molluscs. It is the largest marinephylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms. Numerous molluscs also live infreshwater and terrestrial habitats. Molluscs are highly diverse, not only in size and in anatomicalstructure, but also in behaviour and in habitat.
Western Reef Heron
The Western Reef Heron, Egretta gularis, also known as the Western Reef Egret, is a medium-sized heron. It occurs mainly on the coasts in tropical west Africa, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and east to India. It has been recorded as a vagrant in the Cocos Islands, an Australian territory in the eastern Indian Ocean.[citation needed].
Pomfret
Pomfret are perciform fishes belonging to the family Bramidae.
They are found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, and the largest species, the Atlantic pomfret, Brama brama, grows up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) long.
Egret
An egret is any of several herons, most of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Many egrets are members of thegenera Egretta or Ardea which contain other species named as herons rather than egrets. The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague, and depends more on appearance than biology. The word "egret" comes from the French word "aigrette", referring to the long filamentous feathers that seem to cascade down an egret's back during the breeding season.
King Fisher
Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia. The group is treated either as a single family, Alcedinidae, or as a suborder Alcedines containing three families, Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water kingfishers). There are roughly 90 species of kingfisher. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with little 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. Like other members of their order they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. A few species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction.
Moorhens
Moorhens, sometimes called marsh hens, are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Gallinula.[1] They are close relatives ofcoots, and because of their apparently nervous behavior are sometimes called "skitty coots". Often, they are referred to as gallinules.
Mongooses
Mongooses are a family of 33 species of small carnivorans from southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. Four additional species from Madagascar in the subfamily Galidiinae, which were previously classified in this family, are also frequently referred to as "mongooses". Genetic evidence indicates that the Galidiinae are more closely related to other Madagascar carnivorans in the familyEupleridae, which is the closest living group to mongooses.
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