BIRDS, MAMMALS and OTHER ANIMALS

Exciting pictures & detailed, specialized in-
formation on a wide variety of species and
their adaptations. Coverage includes birds,
primates,endangered, exotics,scavengers,
marine, nocturnal,aggression, learning,etc.

AQUATIC BIRDS
Extensive coverage of birds associated with both fresh and salt water habitats. Characteristics, feeding, mating behavior, threats, etc. 5 pgms. 95 slides & guides.
EP #420X SLIDES
$149.95

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SAVE OVER $62.00 ON 5 SLIDE SET BUNDLE ORDER EP #420X...$149.95
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WADING BIRDS Order #420..........$42.50

Wading birds are found across the country, in both fresh and salt water. Their
characteristic long legs keep their bodies dry while they search for food, stirring up the
water and mud with their feet. The natural lifestyles of the snowy and American egret;
great blue, little blue, Louisiana and black-crowned night heron; American bittern;
sandhill crane; limpkin; white and scarlet ibis; wood stork; roseate spoonbill and
flamingo are shown in pictures and detailed in the text. 20 slides and guide.

CONTENT SAMPLE: 7096 One of the most remarkable of our wading birds is this
roseate spoonbill. You can see how its bill widens at the tip to resemble a spoon. When a
spoonbill feeds it walks along swinging its head from side to side and sifting water and mud
through its bill, straining out the nourishing organisms. Spoonbills are usually seen in salt and
brackish water, sometimes alone, sometimes in flocks. They too are colonial nesters situating
their rookery on small mangrove covered islands in salt water areas. Baby spoonbills are white.
The pink coloring that gives them their name develops as the bird matures. Unlike many water
birds which gabble as they feed, spoonbills are usually silent.

REVIEWS "These slides are truly beautiful and informative." R.S., Argus Archives, NY.
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WATER BIRDS Order #424..........$42.50

Birds, many native to eastern of North America, that swim and dive, spending
most of their lives in water beyond wading depth. Describes physical adaptations to
water habitats and how migration paths are tracked. Covers well-known, rare and elusive
birds, including black and whistling swans; Canada geese; mallard, eider and wood
ducks; duck banding; gannets; puffins; gallinules; grebe; cormorants; anhinga; pelican;
penguin; frigate bird; gull and terns. 20 slides and guide.

CONTENT SAMPLE: 7700 This shy, seldom seen, but really gorgeous close relative of
the previous water bird is the purple gallinule (Porphyrula martinica). Its habits are similar. It too
has long chicken-like legs and toes. As this picture shows, it finds much of its food on the
underside of the large leaves of water plants such as spatterdock. It walks cautiously along,
picking up the leaf edges and gleaning snails, crustaceans, insect larvae and other small things
from underneath.

The purple gallinule is a resident of the southeastern states, breeding from South
Carolina and Tennessee through Texas and Florida.
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AQUATIC BIRDS OF THE WESTERN STATES Order #428..........$42.50

Life styles, habits and characteristics of selected western North American birds
found in or around water. Describes the diverse methods used by various birds to exploit
bodies of water. Includes western grebe, greater scaup, ruddy duck, white-faced ibis,
American coot, American avocet, long-billed curlew, Wilson's phalarope, California gull,
dipper, yellow-headed blackbird and white pelican. 20 slides and guide.

CONTENT SAMPLE: 21227 Appropriately named the yellow-headed blackbird (Xantho-
cephalus xanthocephalus), this handsome bird spends its entire life near water, depending on it
mainly for protection from predators rather than for food, however.

Yellow-headed blackbirds nest in dense colonies, with sometimes as many as 25 nests
in 1.4 sq. m (15 sq. ft.). The nests are open bowls hung from reeds, usually over water. Three to
five whitish, speckled eggs are laid and incubated by the female. The young are fed mostly
insects.

Foraging flocks of yellow-headed blackbirds can cause serious damage to fields of oats
or wheat. However, they partially compensate for the damage by consuming large numbers of
harmful insects such as beetles, grasshoppers and caterpillars.

Some of the members of the blackbird family (Icteridae), which includes blackbirds and
the orioles, have beautiful songs. However, the yellow-headed blackbird is not one of them. Its
song has been variously described as a series of low rasping notes, ending in a long descending
buzz, or the sound of a very rusty gate.
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SEA BIRDS Order #SS-1055S ........$42.50

Features the different types of birds that obtain their food from the ocean's
surface and are capable of surviving for considerable periods away from land. These birds
are grouped according to their degree of independence from land and the ocean regions
they frequent. Sea birds are also considered from the standpoint of evolution. 15 frames,
cassette, guide. (Filmstrip and cassette order SS-1055F.....$20.00.)

CONTENT SAMPLE: 6. Family Alcidae of order Charadriiformes comprises a diverse
group of seabirds known as auks, puffins and guillemots. These are surface-diving birds that
inhabit cooler waters of northern oceans, especially the Bering Sea and North Pacific. Auks
range from 6 to 30 inches in length, but most are small birds. They are easily recognized by
their squat body and small, narrow wings. Their neck and tail are short, and their three-toed feet
are webbed. Auks ride buoyantly on the surface of the water, much like gulls, but in flight they
flap their wings much more rapidly. Also, when approaching a sea cliff or the water they
habitually extend both feet on either side of the tail in braking and steering actions. Auks are at
home on the water, and except during the breeding season they spend all their time at sea
several miles from shore. They dive after fish and crustaceans using their wings as flippers--the
feet serve only as rudders. Pelagic fish and invertebrates are generally pursued, but some are
also bottom-feeders.

Auks fill much the same niche in northern polar waters as penguins do in the Antarctic.
In fact, the term "penguin" was originally coined for the flightless great auk or barefowl (Pinguinus
impennis). This large bird was once common on islands in the North Atlantic, but became
extinct in 1844 as a result of overhunting by sailors and islanders for food and bait. All of the
living species of auks can fly.

About 22 species are generally arranged into 10 to 14 genera. The diversity of the family
is underscored by the many bill configurations, which range from nearly cylindrical to laterally
compressed. Their plumage shows variations of blacks, grays and whites. Breeding occurs in
large rookeries on rocky cliffs or ledges. One or two eggs are usually laid on the ground, and
both parents help incubate and care for the young.

Shown here are the common (Atlantic) puffin (upper left), the razorbill (right) and a pair of
pigeon guillemots (lower left).
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BIRDS OF THE GALAPAGOS Order #425..........$42.50

Presents the unique bird life of these “enchanted isles.” Details the evolutionary
pressures that led to speciation, and describes the significance of these birds to the
development of Darwin's theory. Species covered include Darwin's finches; mockingbird;
waved albatross; frigate bird; blue-footed, red-footed and masked boobies; forked-tail and
lava gulls; brown pelican; green heron and great blue heron. Nesting, displays and
chicks are presented. 20 slides and guide.

CONTENT SAMPLE: 17640 This nondescript little brown bird is a representative of
what has been called "one of the most famous groups of birds in the whole of the history of
biology." It is one of a group of Galapagos birds, now known as Darwin's finches, that provided
the famous naturalist with many of the clues that led him to formulate his theory of evolution.

There are 13 recognized species of Darwin's finches and a number of subspecies
exhibiting minor variations. They are thought to be descended from South American finchs that
colonized the islands when there were few if any competing land birds. At that time many of the
ecological niches ordinarily occupied by other kinds of birds were still vacant and available to
newcomers. It was inevitable, in the absence of competition, that finches would move into these
niches and exploit them.

While all the finches are very similar in basic structure and clearly are related, they differ
in the size and shape of their beaks. In doing his comparisons Darwin realized that these
differences were not accidental, but served to make the bird a more efficient food gatherer in its
particular niche.

He reasoned that as random variations developed in the course of generations, those
variations that made an individual bird a more efficient food gatherer and enhanced its survival
would be passed on to greater numbers offspring. Those that did not increase survival would be
passed on to fewer and fewer offspring. Thus the population would change and evolve in the
newer, more adaptive direction.

In this evolutionary process, some of the finches have become quite unfinchlike in their
behavior. While some are typical ground feeders who eat seeds primarily, like other finches,
others have taken on the characteristics of such birds as parrots, warblers and woodpeckers.
Instead of being exclusively seed eaters, some eat insects, flower blossoms, cactus pulp and
fruit. There is even a tool making and using finch and one group that seeks out blood.
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~0256-076~ Roseate spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja). photo by Charles R. Belinky, Ph.D.

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