Category Amazing Birds

What are the terms which start from Red?

Red Cross

The Red Cross is an organisation that helps people suffering both during peace time and war. Even countries at war respect the neutrality of the Red Cross and allow its volunteers to serve the wounded. It was started by Henry Dunant and was formally launched in 1863 at Geneva, Switzerland. The Red Cross owes its name to its flag. Its flag is a red cross on a white background. May 8 is celebrated as World Red Cross Day to honour Henry Dunant’s birthday.

 Red giant

It is any luminous giant star with a radius between 10 and 100 times larger than that of the Sun. When a star reaches the end of its life, the temperature at its core increases, thus causing it to expand. Hence the giant size. Red giants are stars that have run out of hydrogen supply in their cores and start deriving energy from thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen outside their core.

Redwood

It is a magnificent forest tree that grows along the west coast of the U.S. Redwoods are among the world’s tallest living trees measuring 60 to 85 m high. The tallest redwood tree is in California. It is 110 m high. These trees grow so close together that little sunlight reaches the ground. The wood is soft and red but it is remarkably resistant to insects and decay. In fact, the bark of the restwood tree is even fireproof because of its high water content.

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a long narrow arm of the Indian Ocean that separates the Arabian Peninsula from north-eastem Africa. It covers about 4,56,000 sq.km. The Red Sea is connected to the Mediterranean Sea by the Suez Canal, and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. It is called so probably because of the reddish brown algae that floats on its surface in summer.

Red card

It is a penalty card shown to players in many sports to indicate that the player has committed a serious offence and must leave the pitch for breaking the rules. The player is often barred from playing the next game as well.

Red Fort

The Red Fort in Delhi is the largest of old Delhi’s monuments, it was the palace of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, It once housed the legendary Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-noor diamond. The fort’s massive defensive wall, two to 2.5-km long and 18 to 33m high, is made entirely of red sandstone. It is here that the Prime Minister hoists the national flag every Independence Day.

Redbreast

It is a small, European, thrush-like bird with a red breast, and commonly called robin. The bird, noted for its tameness, nests in ivy or other creepers on trees and walls, in plant pots or other containers. It has a sweet, warbling song and a loud penetrating ‘tic tic alarm call.

 Red Square

It is the most famous landmark of Moscow. The historical square, built in the 15th Century during the reign of Ivan III, has remained the venue for important state functions. It lies in the heart of the city and is lined by some of Moscow’s most significant structures, including the Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral. The Red Square is also home to Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum.

Red blood cells

They are the disc-like cells from which the blood gets its familiar colour. They are so small that a drop of blood the size of a pinhead contains five million of them. Their main constituent is the red pigment haemoglobin.

Red carpet

It is traditionally rolled out on the route taken by Heads of State and dignitaries on ceremonial and formal occasions. In recent times, it has been extended to VIPS and celebrities as well on events such as award functions. This practice gave rise to the expression ‘red carpet treatment’.

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Does owls have eyeballs?

Owls don’t have eyeballs. They have eye tubes or cylinders, rod-shaped eyes that do not move in their sockets as eyeballs do. Instead, owls have to move their bodies or heads in order to look around. Since moving their torsos would likely make noise that would alert their prey to their presence, owls have evolved to have necks that can spin up to 270° essentially silently.

But why favour neck-spinning over the seemingly simple eye ball-spinning method of looking around? Well, night vision requires large corneas that allow for light to be collected effectively even in the dark, which is why most nocturnal animals (like the slow loris or tarsier) have huge eyes. But owls have small skulls, so their big eyes couldn’t expand out. They instead developed into the rod shape of today’s owls. They aren’t alone though: some deep-sea fish (like the anglerfish) also have rod-shaped eyes for seeing in the dark.

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Will there be a ‘Project Great Indian Bustard’?

Proposed on the lines of Project Tiger, the country’s highest court seeks the government’s view on the idea. What prompted this? Here’s the story and background in five simplified points.

  1. THE PROPOSAL: Coming to the rescue of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB), the Supreme Court has mooted the idea of launching ‘Project GIB’ on the lines of ‘Project Tiger. A bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and comprising justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian, also sought reports from the chief secretaries of Rajasthan and Gujarat in six weeks on the installation of bird diverters in priority areas and assess the total length of transmission lines in the two States where undergrounding of electric wires have to be done to ensure the birds do not die of electrocution.
  2. COMMITTEE FORMED: The Supreme Court had earlier set up a three-member committee to assess the feasibility of laying high-voltage underground power cables. It had also directed the Gujarat and Rajasthan governments to convert overhead electric cables into underground power cables, wherever feasible, and install bird diverters in priority areas where the birds live. It has now directed the committee to submit an updated status report on the steps to safeguard the birds.
  3. ENDANGERED SPECIES: The great Indian bustard, considered India’s most critically endangered bird species, is especially found in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and as per the 2021 report of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), they are on the verge of extinction with less than 249 of them alive. Endemic to India, these birds were once seen across several States in the country. Due to hunting, habitat loss, and accidents caused by windmills and overhead power lines, their numbers dwindled over the last few decades.
  4. RECENT DEATHS: Being hit by overhead power lines is one of the major reasons for the death of these birds today, which is why the focus is on undergrounding such lines. While the work for undergrounding power lines has started in Gujarat, that does not seem to be the situation in Rajasthan, according to reports. Bird diverters too have not been installed in priority areas despite the Supreme Court’s direction. This would explain the deaths of seven birds so far this year, which is a matter of continuing concern.
  5. PROJECT TIGER: The Central government had launched ‘Project Tiger on April 1, 1973 to promote the conservation of the big cat whose population had dipped alarmingly. The number of tigers in 1973 was less than 300, and according to the All India Tiger Estimation Report, that number rose to 2,967 in 2018. Project Tiger has been viewed by the government as one of the most successful conservation programmes for a single species in the world. And so, it is hoped that a similar project for this critically endangered bird species would save it from extinction.

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Why is the Bee Hummingbird unique?

The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird on the planet. The males often grow only up to 55 millimetres, weighing about 1.95 grams, whereas the females grow up to 61 millimetres from beak to tail, weighing about 2.6 grams. Bee Hummingbirds are an endemic species that are found in all parts of the main island of Cuba and the many islets and islands that make up the Cuban archipelago.

Visiting more than 1500 flowers in a day, these tiny birds feed on nectar, and sometimes on insects and spiders. In this process, they pick up and transfer pollen to their beak and head. An interesting aspect about them is that they feed on the flowers without landing on them-instead, they hover in the air while feeding and as a result of this constant flapping of wings, they need to eat every few minutes. Up to 15 per cent of their time is spent eating.

The downside of being the world’s smallest bird is that they are particularly vulnerable to being attacked by other species that consider them similar to insects due to their size. Because of this, they have to watch out for larger birds, mongooses, bees, wasps, frogs, fish, and even spiders. Just like most other species, human activity has also led to a decrease in their number. They are not yet considered an endangered species, but are classified as “near threatened”.

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How do migratory birds find direction?

Humans became aware of bird migration – the journey of birds between their breeding and wintering grounds – long ago. However, there’s still so much we do not know about this riveting phenomenon. But thanks to science, technology, and research, we also constantly gain newer insights. Here’s a look at a recent discovery.

Just like us humans who have an internal system that guides our body on when to sleep, wake up. etc., birds too have a system in place that lets them know when it is time to migrate. Apparently, they also “inherit’ from their parents the direction in which they   must fly to reach their destination. Apart from this, they have “at least three different compasses at their disposal: one allows them to extract information from the position of the sun in the sky, another uses the patterns of the stars at night, and the third is based on Earth’s ever present magnetic field”. And it is this last aspect that the recent discovery throws fresh light on.

While research revealed decades ago that birds possessed magnetoreception – the ability to detect the Earth’s magnetic field – it was not clear so far how exactly it worked. This mystery was solved when scientists recently discovered that the levels of a certain protein – named Cry4 – present in the eyes of migratory birds spike up suddenly during the migratory season. When this protein comes in contact with blue light (which is scattered in Earth’s atmosphere), it leads to a chemical reaction that helps the birds sense the Earth’s magnetic field.

Did you know?

During the first migration, the route gets registered in the birds’ brain – apparently, this helps them navigate their subsequent journeys “with an ultimate precision of centimeters over thousands of kilometers”. It means they gain an additional resource they can dip into – a mental map, as it were. But, since this absent during the first trip, even a small mistake such as veering off course could be fatal for the young birds.

The levels of a certain protein- named Cry4-present in the eyes of birds spike up suddenly during the migratory season. When this protein comes in contact with blue light (which is scattered in Earth’s atmosphere), it leads to a chemical reaction that helps the birds sense the Earth’s magnetic field.

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WHAT IS THE STORY OF TOKY BIRD?

At a time when we constantly speak about the threat of extinction that several species faces across the globe, one bird species has beaten all odds to return from extinction in the wild. Let’s find out more about this remarkable conservation story.

When Kin-Japanese for gold died in 2003 aged 36, not a single wild-born Japanese crested ibis was left in the country. Known as toki, there was little hope for a species that was synonymous with Japan.

Wild toki once lived across Japan, as well as in Russia, Taiwan, and South Korea. Toki meat was presumed to have health benefits, and the bird’s feathers were used in everything from dusters to hats. Which meant, the bird was hunted mindlessly. Inevitably, by the early 20th Century, only a few dozen birds remained in Japan most of them on Sado island and the nearby Noto peninsula. At this juncture, the species won protected status. Just when things appeared to get better for the species came chemical fertilizers and For birds that fed primarily on paddy, this spelled disaster, and “by 1981 just five wild toki remained in Japan, all on Sado, where officials took them into protective captivity”. In a case of strange coincidence, the same year, as many as seven of these birds were discovered in the wild in China. While Japan’s captive breeding programme wasn’t exactly successful, China’s was. In fact the latter gifted two of its birds to the former in 1998. The following year, the couple reached Japan, within months had their first chick, and made national headlines.

Gradually over two decades, their population grew enough for Sado to consider releasing them into the wild. Today, there are about 500 wild birds, drawing tourists to their delicate pink plumage and distinctive curved beak. Meanwhile, “China’s wild population now numbers over 4,450, and a South Korean project released 40 toki for the first time in 2019”.

Picture Credit : Google