Words for Birds
Take a gander at our glossary featuring some of the keywords from Backyard Birding With NHM!
![Hummingbird with flower](/sites/default/files/styles/fwc_full_small/public/2019-03/istock_000012396577large_retouched-1.jpg?h=11b34633)
E1: Bird Species Richness in the Los Angeles Region
Richness: The number of species in a community
Topographic: Physical features on the earth’s surface such as hills, mountains etc.
Endemic: Animals and plants that only live in one place and nowhere else in the world
Sedentary: The animal has the same locality throughout life
Subspecies: Physical and genetic differences between a species from being in different locations
Converge: To meet or gather at a point
Rain Shadow: Mountain range blocking weather patterns creating a desert landscape
Terrestrial: On land
![Burrowing Owl](/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg_side/public/2022-07/iStock-698107798_burrowing%20owl.png)
E2: Bird Habitats Around Los Angeles
Generalists: Birds that can be found in most terrestrial habitats
Specialists: Birds that are usually found in specific types of habitats
Hardscape: The man-made features of landscape architecture, not plants
Riparian Habitats: Land along rivers and streams
Chaparral: Groups of drought-adapted shrubs, typically found in rocky and rapidly drained shallow soils
![Canada Goose](/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg_full/public/2022-07/canada%20goose.png)
E3: Los Angeles Birds Through the Seasons
Molting: Shedding old feathers to make room for new growth
Migration: The large-scale movement of birds to a different environment
Energetically Expensive: Requires more energy/food to be able to perform the task
Fledgling: A young bird who has developed feathers for flight
Nestlings: A young bird not yet ready to leave the nest
![Brown Pelican](/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg_side/public/2022-07/Brown%20pelican.png)
E4: Bird Diversity in Los Angeles
Genera: A group of related living organisms
Families: A taxonomic rank that contains more than one genera
Orders: A taxonomic rank that contains more than one family
Life History Traits: A pattern of survival and reproduction and the attributes that allow this survival and reproduction
Passeriformes: An order of birds that contains more than half of all known bird species
Phylogeny: A branch of biology that studies phylogenetics, which is the relationship of species and evolution
Evolutionary History: The gradual change in characteristics in a species over generations of time
E5: Meet The House Finch
Fringillidae: A family of birds that includes finches
Mycoplasma Gallisepticum: A bacteria that causes respiratory disease and infectious sinusitis in avian species
![House Finch](/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg_full/public/2022-07/House%20Finch%20Hero%20Image%20Isolagted%20DAMS.png)