Re: some questions related to dinosaur and/or avian biology

[Ronald Orenstein <ornstn@inforamp.net>]

>3) For the ornithologists that I know are out there and contribute
>to these lists: are all passerines relatively small birds, or are
>some comparable in size to larger non-passerines?

The largest passerines are the Thick-billed Raven (Corvus
crassirostris), 60-64 cm in length (weight unrecorded), from Ethiopia,
and the Northern Raven (C. corax), which isabout the same size and
weighs 920-1560 g., as well as the Australian Lyrebirds (male Superb
Lyrebirds are up to 90 cm long counting the lengthy tail).  That is
considerably larger than many non-passerines (remember, hummingbirds
are non-passerines!) but certainly well below the size range of the
larger eagles, bustards, pelicans, ratites etc.

>4) Another one for the ornithologists, and not meant to resurrect
>the egg predation arguments again: do any modern birds bury their
>eggs in sand or vegetation mounds aa a means of minimizing changes
>in the immediate external environment of the eggs?

Certainly megapodes (Megapodiidae) are famous for burying their eggs
in mounds of earth and/or rotting vegetation; the most southerly, the
Mallee Fowl of Australia, uses its mouth lining as a very sensitive
temperature sensor and spends a great deal of time maintaining the
mound's internal temperature at near-constant levels by adding and
removing material.  Contrastingly, when the young hatch megapodes do
not care for them in any way.

--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886 (home)
International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116 (home)
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