Marine and Coastal Birds
External Anatomy of a
Bird
1. Beak
2. Crown
3. Iris
4. Pupil
5. Mantle
6. Lesser Coverts
7. Scapulars
8. Coverts (Feathers)
9. Tertials
10. Rump
11. Tail Feathers
12. Vent
13. Thigh
14. Knee
15. Tarsus
16. Feet
17. Tibia
18. Belly
19. Flanks
20. Breast
21. Throat
22. Wattle
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Birds are in the phylum Chordata
Class Aves
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Hollow Bones
Feathers
Wings
Lay eggs
Endothermic (warm-blooded)
Marine Birds
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Waterproof feathers
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Oil gland secretes oil
Use beaks to move it around their bodies
Webbed Feet
Nest on land in often secluded
areas
Types of Marine Birds
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Albatross
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Tubenoses
Salt gland
to excrete
excess salt
ingested
Curved tip
on beak
good for
surface
fishing
Tubenoses continued
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Tubenoses have extreme migrations
Mate for life
Wingspans up to 3.5 m!
Penguins
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Streamlined, hard
beak (better for
diving)
Use wings to dive
and pursue food
Denser bones to
help with diving
Often mate for life
Bad eye sight on
land
Penguins continued…
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Penguins live in
cold regions
They have an
extra layer of fat
to help keep them
warm
They sometimes
live near the
equator, but those
areas get cold
water currents
Pelicans
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Pelicans have a pouch on bill that can hold
water when they catch prey
DDT caused a near extinction of
brown pelicans in the 70s
Brown pelicans
are found on
the TX Gulf
Coast
Cormorant
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Black birds that dive for prey
Low fliers and low floaters
Frigates
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Bird Pirates
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Attack birds in air and make them regurgitate their
food
Don’t enter water
often because they
aren’t very waterproof
Long forked tail
Gulls
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Scavengers (trash birds)
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They eat anything
Shorebirds in Texas
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Often have long legs for wading
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Roseate Spoonbills
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Eat crustaceans
Live along the gulf
of Mexico
Red shoulder patch
Spoon shaped bill
Herons
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Long legs for wading
Eat crustaceans
Long billed Curlew
 Use bill to get worms, fish,
crabs out of mud
Whooping Cranes
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Tallest bird in North
America
Can only see black
wing feathers while
in flight
Migrate to Texas
from November to March (breed in Canada)
Whooping Crane Migration