Ericson 2008Ratites and Tinamous

Nightjars, owlet-nightjars, potooes, oilbird, frogmouths, hummingbirds, swifts

Shorebirds, gulls, auks

Pelicans, cormorants, herons, storks, cranes, rails, loons, penguins, albatrosses, cuckoos, turacos, bustards

Parrots and Passerines

Accipitrid diurnal raptors, osprey and secretarybird, rollers, woodpeckers, trogons, mousebirds, owls

Pheasants, quails, currasows, ducks, geese, swans

Heterogeneous assemblage of enigmas

Ericson 2008Ratites and Tinamous

Nightjars, owlet-nightjars, potooes, oilbird, frogmouths, hummingbirds, swifts

Shorebirds, gulls, auks

Pelicans, cormorants, herons, storks, cranes, rails, loons, penguins, albatrosses, cuckoos, turacos, bustards

Parrots and Passerines

Accipitrid diurnal raptors, osprey and secretarybird, rollers, woodpeckers, trogons, mousebirds, owls

Pheasants, quails, currasows, ducks, geese, swans

Heterogeneous assemblage of enigmas

Suboscine (represented by Tyrannida)Oscine (represented by Passerida)

PASSERINESLargest Order of Extant Birds

Timing

Red = AustralasiaGreen = Africa and EurasiaBlue = North and South AmericaGrey = ambiguous ancestral / current area

(Barker et al. 2004)

Routes

(Ericson et al. 2002)

(Cracraft 2001)

Syrinx

Gill 2005

Morphology of Voice

Brackenbury 1982 and Gill 2005

Syrinx of Suboscine and Oscine

Gill 2005 and Wallace and Mahan 1975

Rictal Bristles

• Tyrannidae

Butcher Birds

Bird Brains?

• Transitive inference• Episodic memory• Object constancy

(follow disappeared object)

• Tool manufacture• Social learning• Theory of mind

(Nihei and Higuchi 2001)

All Bird Brains are Not Equal

(Emery and Clayton 2004)

Hippocampus

• In birds and mammals most medial part of pallium

• Spatial memory (caches, location of danger)• Changes in size with seasonal needs

Lateralization and Brain

Complexity

• Complex neural connections and lateralization – Left hemisphere for

complex integration and learning

• New Caledonian Crows are mostly right-billed (tilting to use right eye), using left hemisphere to guide tool making and use

• Song learning is also controlled from left hemisphere

(Cnotka et al. 2008)

(Emery and Clayton 2004)

Fig. 1. FROM DELANEY et al. 2008---Distribution of Island and Western scrub-jays, with associated geographic trends in morphological characteristics. Species distributions are adapted from Curry et al. (2002); orange = Aphelocoma insularis, green = Californica group of Aphelocoma californica, light blue = Woodhouseii group of Aphelocoma californica, and dark blue = sumichrasti group of Aphelocoma californica.

Florida Scrub-jay

Scrub-jays

Currently we recognize 3 species, but there are most likely 5 and maybe 6isolation has been of paramount importance and novel selective

pressures from foods eaten (oaks versus other seeds)

During the last several million years land connections (via Beringia) between New and Old Worlds waxed and waned with glaciation. Beringia was dry and offered land passage.

50ka

Corvids Invade Our WorldTied to changes in vegetation and sea level

Tertiary forests of Australia were being replaced by deserts perhaps forcing corvid ancestors (related to Birds of Paradise and Orioles) to leave Australia and head north in Oligocene and Miocene to Asia, following northward movement of tropical forests

6-8 mya in MioceneNew World Jay ancestor from forests of southeast Asia,

radiate in South America (first) and North America

15,000 ya – 2 mya in PleistoceneOld World Jay (Gray Jay)NutcrackerMagpieCrowRaven

(from article on evolution of cats; Johnson et al. 2006; Science 311:73-77)

Ravens• 4 clades diverging in Africa 1.7-

3.8my• Corvus corax ancestor diverges

(closest relative is C. albus) shortly thereafter

• C. corax invades New World 2my and new and old world ravens begin independent evolution

– Old world raven spins off Canary Island Raven 650,000 yr

– New world ravens spins off Chihuahuan Raven

• C. corax reinvades New World 15,000 years ago

Complexity Revealed By Genetic Analyses

• Common Raven– ~15,000 years ago old world

ravens again invaded the new world via Beringia

• Holarctic and California clade of ravens now found in North America, but they are becoming more similar, not diverging as they had in past.

– Giving us new insights into what constitutes a “species”

Sociality and Cooperative Breeding

Wrens• New World Family

Winter Wren Vocalizations

Bushtits

Male

Female

Mixed Species Flocks

• Nonbreeding season

• Kinglets, chickadees, woodpeckers, creepers, nuthatches

• Tropical tanagers, euphonias, toucans, woodpeckers, and lots more

• Predator avoidance, food finding

Importance of Snags and Woodpeckers to Secondary Cavity

Nesters• Creepers,

Nuthatches, Chickadees, Swallows

Habitat Losses

• Shrub Steppe, Sagebrush, Thornscrub– Shrikes, grouse, many others

• Grasslands– larks

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