The northern white rhinoceros or northern square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is considered critically endangered and possibly extinct in the wild. Formerly found in several countries in East and Central Africa south of the Sahara, this subspecies is a grazer in grasslands and savanna woodlands.
Initially, six northern white rhinoceros lived in the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic. Four of the six rhinos (which were also the only reproductive animals of this subspecies) were transported to Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, where scientists hoped they would successfully breed and save this subspecies from extinction. One of the two remaining in the Czech Republic died in late May 2011. Both of the last two males capable of natural mating died in 2014 (one in Kenya on 18 October and one in San Diego on 15 December). In 2015, the Kenyan government placed the last remaining male of the subspecies at Ol Pejeta under 24-hour armed guard to deter poachers, but he was put down on 19 March 2018 due to multiple health problems caused by old age, leaving just two females alive which reside at the Ol Pejeta complex.  Staff hope to inseminate the remaining females with the last male's semen, although the semen is not preferable due to the age of the rhino.
Following the phylogenetic species concept, recent research has led to the hypothesis that the northern white rhinoceros is a different species, rather than a subspecies of white rhinoceros as was previously thought, in which case the correct scientific name for the former should be Ceratotherium cottoni. Distinct morphological and genetic differences suggest the two proposed species have been separated for at least a million years. However, the results of the research were not universally accepted by other scientists.


Most white rhinos in zoos are southern white rhinos; in 2001 it was estimated that there were 777 white rhinos in captivity worldwide.
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park in San Diego, California, US had two northern white rhinos, one of which was wild-caught. On 22 November 2015, a 41-year-old female named Nola (born in 1974), which had been on loan from the Dvůr Králové Zoo in Dvůr Králové, Czech Republic) since 1989, was euthanized after experiencing a downturn in health. On 14 December 2014, a 44-year-old male named Angalifu died of old age at the San Diego Zoo. The other four captive northern white rhinos were loaned to Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, and only two remain alive. Females Najin and Fatu are still living, while males Suni and Sudan died in 2014 and 2018, respectively. The northern white rhinos had been transferred to Ol Pejeta Conservancy from the Dvůr Králové Zoo in 2009 in an attempt to protect the taxa in their natural habitat. The only two northern white rhinos left are maintained under 24-hour armed guard in Kenya.


Cercis occidentalis, the western redbud or California redbud (syn. Cercis orbiculata — Greene), is a small tree or shrub in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is found across the American Southwest, from California to Utah and Arizona.
It is easily recognized when it is in bloom from March to May, when it is covered with small pink to purple flowers.


Cercis occidentalis has thin, shiny brown branches that bear shiny heart-shaped leaves which are light green early in the season and darken as they age. Leaves on plants at higher elevation may turn gold or red as the weather cools.
The showy flowers are bright pink or magenta, and they grow in clusters all over the shrub, making the plant very colorful and noticeable in the landscape. The shrub bears 3-inch-long brown legume pods which are very thin and dry. Its native habitats include dry slopes and foothills of canyons below 1,100 metres (3,600 ft).


The blue monkey or diademed monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) is a species of Old World monkey native to Central and East Africa, ranging from the upper Congo River basin east to the East African Rift and south to northern Angola and Zambia. It sometimes includes Sykes', silver, and golden monkeys as subspecies.


Despite its name, the blue monkey is not noticeably blue; it has little hair on its face, and this does sometimes give a blue appearance, but it never has the vivid blue appearance of a mandrill, for example. It is mainly olive or grey apart from the face (which is dark with a pale or yellowish patch on the forehead - the "diadem" from which the species derives its common name), the blackish cap, feet, and front legs, and the mantle, which is brown, olive, or grey depending on the subspecies. Typical sizes range from 50 to 65 cm in length, (not including the tail, which is almost as long as the rest of the animal), with females weighing a little over 4 kg and males up to 8 kg.


Blue monkeys eat fruits, figs, insects, leaves, twigs, and flowers. “They are primarily frugivores, with 50% of their diet consisting of fruit, with leaves or insects as their main source of protein, with the rest of the diet being made up of seeds, flowers, and fungi. They rarely eat vertebrates. They eat a variety of plants, but concentrate on a few species, which means their population density is generally dependent on
plant species' richness and diversity.”


The common wood-nymph ranges from Nova Scotia and Quebec west to northern British Columbia south to northern California southeast to Texas and east to northern Florida.


The common wood-nymph is found in a variety of open habitats, such as open woodlands, woodland edges, fields, pastures, wet meadows, prairies, salt marshes, and savannas.


The common wood-nymph is found from mid-May to early October in the eastern part of its range. It is found from late June to early July in California and Arizona. It has one brood per year throughout its entire range.


The common wood-nymph feeds on nectar, tree sap, and decaying matters. Some of the plants it nectars on include:
Asclepias tuberosa – butterfly weed
Cirsium arvense – Canada thistle
Cirsium vulgare – bull thistle
Daucus carota – wild carrot
Dipsacus sylvestris - teasel
Monarda fistulosa – wild bergamot
Pycnanthemum virginianum – Virginia mountain mint
Rudbeckia hirta – black-eyed susan
Trifolium pratense – red clover
Vernonia gigantea – tall ironweed


The female common wood-nymph is the active flight partner. The female lays her eggs on or near the host plant. The egg is pale yellow, later turning to a tan color with orange or pink blotches. The caterpillar makes no shelters or nests. It is green or yellowish green with darker green stripes that run the length of the body. It has two short pinkish projections on the end of the abdomen. It has yellow spiracles and is covered in thin, white hairs. The caterpillar will reach a length of 5 cm (2 in). The common wood-nymph caterpillar is very similar to satyr caterpillars in the genera Hermeuptychia, Cyllopsis, and Neonympha. It can be separated by its larger size and habitat. The pale green chrysalis is striped in white or pale yellow. The first instar caterpillar hibernates.


The beetle feeds mostly on vegetables that are in the cotyledon-stage, such as cucumbers, cucurbits, pumpkin, and squash. It also can be a pest of legumes such as soybean. In early spring, adult beetles emerge to feed on legumes, such as alfalfa, before crops such as soybeans and green beans are available.
Multiple generations occur per year depending on growing season length with one generation in northern climates, such as Ontario, one to two generations in the Upper Midwest US, and three generations in the southeastern US.
Bean leaf beetle mostly overwinters in woodlot leaf litter, but can also be found in crop fields under soybean debris. Significant mortality can occur below 14 °F (−10 °C)


Adults are brown on the upper parts with light spotting, resembling a piece of tree bark, with white underparts. They have a long thin bill with a slight downward curve and a long stiff tail used for support as the bird creeps upwards. The male creeper has a slightly larger bill than the female. Brown creepers are smaller than white-breasted nuthatches but larger than golden-crowned kinglets.
Measurements:
Length: 4.7–5.5 in (12–14 cm)
Weight: 0.2–0.3 oz (5.7–8.5 g)
Wingspan: 6.7–7.9 in (17–20 cm)
Its voice includes single very high pitched, short, often insistent, piercing calls; see, or swee. The song often has a cadence like; pee pee willow wee or see tidle swee, with notes similar to the calls. Creepers in California have songs of four to nine syllables, except in the San Bernardino Mountains, where there are as many as nine to thirteen syllables per song, but within the same two second time frame.
This species's avoidance of edges, cryptic plumage, and high-pitched vocalizations contribute to a low survey detection rate compared to other species.


Their breeding habitat is mature forests, especially conifers, in Canada, Alaska and the northeastern and western United States. They are permanent residents through much of their range; many northern birds migrate farther south to the United States. Brown creeper has occurred as a vagrant to Bermuda and Central America's mountains in Guatemala, Honduras and the northern cordillera of El Salvador. Since 1966 the brown creeper has experienced a yearly 1.5% population increase throughout the northeastern and northwestern (Pacific coast) regions of its range. The first breeding brown creepers in the Northwest Territories were detected inn 2008, in the Liard Valley, which may be a result of northern range expansion.
As a migratory species with a northern range, this species is a conceivable vagrant to western Europe. However, it is intermediate in its characteristics between common treecreeper and short-toed treecreeper, and has sometimes in the past been considered a subspecies of the former, although its closest relative seems to be the latter (Tietze et al., 2006). Since the two European treecreepers are themselves among the most difficult species on that continent to distinguish from each other, a brown creeper would probably not even be suspected, other than on a treeless western island, and would be difficult to verify even then.
Brown creepers prefer mature, moist, coniferous forests or mixed coniferous/deciduous forests. They are found in drier forests as well, including Engelman Spruce and larch forest in eastern Washington. They generally avoid the rainforest of the outer coast. While they generally nest in hardwoods, conifers are preferred for foraging.
Breeding brown creepers generally require trees of a large diameter, whose deeper bark furrows support large amounts of bark-dwelling invertebrates such as spiders to make up a foraging substratum. They also require continual renewal of snags, with a preference for Balsam Fir in their New Brunswick breeding range.
Brown creepers have been recorded breeding in the dry season (January–February) in Chalatenango Department, El Salvador, a behaviour unusual to insectivorous birds and shared in the region only by the golden-fronted woodpecker.


As with many of Washington's birds, the Cascades divide this species into two subspecies.
The species has declined in much of North America but appears to be doing well in Washington, with a small (not significant) increase on the state's breeding bird survey since 1966.
In Wyoming, brown creepers have been recognized as preferring habitat within large, intact and mature stands of spruces, firs, or lodgepole pine. It is therefore potentially vulnerable to logging, climate change, or replacement of those tree species by Ponderosa pine. However, it is not considered a species of serious concern in that state.
In New Brunswick, brown creepers have been shown to respond negatively to even moderate forestry. Conservation efforts in the province have focused on maintaining unmanaged patches with high densities of trees and snags in mature forest.
Ivory-billed woodcreepers (Xiphorhynchus flavigaster) have been observed extracting brown creeper nestlings and dropping them away from the nest.


There are five subspecies of short-toed treecreeper, which are all very similar and often intergrade in areas where their ranges overlap. There is a general cline in appearance from west to east across Europe, with upperparts becoming a darker and colder brown. The currently recognised subspecies are as follows:


All the treecreepers are similar in appearance, being small birds with streaked and spotted brown upperparts, rufous rumps and whitish underparts. They have long decurved bills, and long stiff tail feathers which provide support as they creep up tree trunks looking for insects.
The short-toed treecreeper is 12.5 centimetres (4.9 inches) long and weighs 7.5–11 g (0.26–0.39 oz). It has dull grey-brown upperparts intricately patterned with black, buff and white, a weak off-white supercilium and dingy underparts contrasting with the white throat. The sexes are similar, but juveniles have whitish underparts, sometimes with a buff belly.
The call of this species is a repeated shrill tyt...tyt tyt-tyt and the song of the nominate subspecies is an evenly spaced sequence of notes teet-teet-teet-e-roi-tiit. There is some geographical variation; the song of Danish birds is shorter, that of the Cyprus subspecies is very short and simple, and the North African version is lower pitched. European birds do not respond to latter two song variants.
This species shares much of its range with the common treecreeper. Compared to the short-toed, that bird is whiter below, warmer and more spotted above, and has a whiter supercilium and slightly shorter bill. However, identification by sight may be impossible for poorly-marked birds. Vocal birds are usually identifiable, since Common has a distinctive song composed of twitters, ripples and a final whistle and a shree' call rarely given by the short-toed; however, both species have been known to sing the other's song. Even in the hand, although the short-toed usually has a longer bill and shorter toes, 5% of birds are not safely identifiable.
The brown treecreeper has never been recorded in Europe, but would be difficult to separate from the short-toed treecreeper, which it much resembles in appearance. Its call is more like the common treecreeper's, but a vagrant brown treecreeper might still not be possible to identify with certainty given the similarities between the three species.


The short-toed treecreeper breeds in temperate woodlands across Europe from Portugal to Turkey and Greece, and in north west Africa. It prefers well-grown trees, especially oak and avoids pure stands of conifers. Where it shares its European range with common treecreeper, the latter species tends to be found mainly in coniferous forest and at higher altitudes.
It is usually found in the lowlands, but breeds locally at up to 900 metres (3,000 feet) in Germany, 1,800 metres (5,900 feet) in France and 1,400 metres (4,600 feet) in Switzerland. In Turkey and North Africa it is a mountain species. The breeding areas have July isotherms between 17–18 °C and 26 °C (63–64 °F and 79 °F).
This treecreeper is essentially non-migratory but post-breeding dispersal may lead to vagrancy outside the normal range. It has occurred as a vagrant to England, Sweden, Lithuania and the Balearic Islands. Three birds on Corsica in 1969 appeared to be of the North African subspecies C. b. mauritanica.


The short-toed nests in tree crevices or behind bark flakes. Old woodpecker nests, crevices in buildings or walls, and artificial nest boxes or flaps are also used.
The nest has an often bulky base of twigs, pine needles, grass or bark, and a lining of finer material such as feathers, wool, moss, lichen or spider web. The eggs are laid between April and mid June (typical clutch 5–7 eggs); they are white with purple-red blotches, 15.6 mm × 12.2 mm (0.61 in × 0.48 in) in size. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 13 – 15 days until the altricial downy chicks hatch; they are then fed by both parents, but brooded by the female alone, for a further 15 – 18 days to fledging. This species often raises a second brood. The male starts constructing a new nest while the female is still feeding the first brood, and when the chicks are 10–12 days old, he takes over feeding duties while the female completes the new nest.
A Spanish study suggests that forest fragmentation adversely affects the numbers of short-toed treecreepers present, as is also the case with the common treecreeper. Species that depend on relatively scarce resources, such as tree trunks, only occupy the larger forests, whereas those such as tits and common firecrests that exploit abundant, ubiquitous resources are distributed uniformly through woodlands of all sizes.


As a small woodland bird with cryptic plumage and a quiet call, the short-toed treecreeper is easily overlooked as it hops mouse-like up a vertical trunk, progressing in short hops, using its stiff tail and widely splayed feet as support. Nevertheless, it is not wary, and is largely indifferent to the presence of humans. It has a distinctive erratic and undulating flight, alternating fluttering butterfly-like wing beats with side-slips and tumbles. It is solitary in winter, but in cold weather up to twenty or more birds will roost together in a suitable sheltered crevice, or in a star formation under eaves of buildings.


This species has an extensive range of between 1–10 million square kilometres (0.4–3.8 million square mi). It has a large population, estimated at between 4.1–14 million individuals. Population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the short-toed treecreeper is evaluated as Least Concern.
It is common through much of its range, but is rare in the  Caucasus and on the smaller Channel Islands. In the west of its range it is spreading north through Denmark, where it first bred in 1946.


The yellow-chinned spinetail (Certhiaxis cinnamomeus) is a passerine bird found in the tropical New World from Trinidad and Colombia south to Argentina and Uruguay. It is a member of the South American bird family Furnariidae.


The yellow-chinned spinetail is found in all contiguous regions of Brazil, except specific parts of the Amazon Basin. In northern South America, the species is mainly found along the coast, in a continuous coastal strip that extends from the mouth of the Amazon River's mouth through northern Brazil's Amapá state, the Guianas – extending to the headwaters of the south-flowing Branco River in the north central of Brazil's Roraima state as it borders the Guiana Highlands –, Venezuela, where its range extends more widely inland along the Orinoco River, to northern Colombia where it ranges up the Madeira River valley beyond the Serranía de las Quinchas.
Further south, like its sister species, the red-and-white spinetail (C. mustelinus) it is found along the Amazon River corridor. From the upper Amazon exiting the Andes, it only occurs in the river corridor, then bifurcating up the Madeira River, southwestwards into Bolivia. From there, it ranges along the Andean foothills to northwestern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and finally the Rio de la Plata. It is apparently absent from much of Pará and northern Mato Grosso states, essentially between the Madeira and Araguaia River corridors. But apart from that region it occurs in most of South America in the area enclosed by – running counterclockwise – the lower Amazon and the Madeira river, the Andes, the Paraguay and lower Paraná rivers, and the Atlantic Ocean.
This species is a common resident breeder in marshes and the edges of mangrove swamps; in general its habitat is open woodland in the vicinity of rivers. The yellow-chinned spinetail feeds on insects and spiders, keeping low and often in the open. It is a conspicuous, confiding and noisy bird. Unlike the related ovenbirds, the yellow-chinned spinetail constructs a large spherical stick nest, usually low in a mangrove or other marsh vegetation. The tubular entrance tunnel rises almost vertically from the base to the top of the nest. The normal clutch is three, sometimes four, greenish white eggs.
This spinetail is parasitised by the striped cuckoo (Tapera naevia), which lays one or two eggs in the nest, but it is not known how the cuckoo enters the nest or whether it or its offspring eject the host's young.
This widely ranging bird is not considered threatened by the IUCN.


The elk (Cervus canadensis), also known as the wapiti,  is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America, as well as Central and East Asia. The common name elk, used in North America, creates confusion because the larger Alces alces, which is called moose in North America, is also called elk in British English, and related names in other European languages (German Elch, Swedish älg, and French élan). The name "wapiti" is sometimes used in North America for Cervus canadensis. It originates from the Shawnee and Cree word waapiti, meaning 'white rump'.
Elk range in forest and forest-edge habitat, feeding on grasses, plants, leaves, and bark. Male elk have large antlers which they shed each year. Males also engage in ritualized mating behaviors during the rut, including posturing, antler wrestling (sparring), and bugling, a loud series of vocalizations that establishes dominance over other males and attracts females. Although it is currently native to North America and central/eastern Asia, it had a much wider distribution in the past. Populations were present across Eurasia into Western Europe during the Late Pleistocene and survived into the early Holocene in southern Sweden and the Alps; the extinct Merriam's elk subspecies ranged into Mexico. The elk has adapted well to countries where it has been introduced, including Argentina and New Zealand. Its adaptability may in fact threaten endemic species and the ecosystems into which it has been introduced.
Elk are susceptible to a number of infectious diseases, some of which can be transmitted to livestock. Efforts to eliminate infectious diseases from elk populations, largely by vaccination, have had mixed success. Some cultures revere the elk as having spiritual significance. In parts of Asia, antlers and their velvet are used in traditional medicines. Elk are hunted as a game species. Their meat is leaner and higher in protein than beef or chicken. Elk were long believed to belong to a subspecies of the European red deer (Cervus elaphus), but evidence from many mitochondrial DNA genetic studies beginning in 1998 shows that the two are distinct species. Key morphological differences that distinguish C. canadensis from C. elaphus are the former's wider rump patch and paler-hued antlers.


By the 17th century, Alces alces (called "elk" in Europe) had long been extirpated from the British Isles, and the meaning of the word "elk" to English-speakers became rather vague, acquiring a meaning similar to "large deer". The name wapiti is from the Shawnee and Cree word waapiti (in Cree syllabics: ᐙᐱᑎ or ᐚᐱᑎ), meaning "white rump". There is a subspecies of wapiti in Mongolia called the Altai wapiti (Cervus canadensis sibiricus), also known as the Altai maral.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of the word "elk" is "of obscure history". In Classical Antiquity, the European Alces alces was known as Ancient Greek: ἄλκη, romanized: álkē and Latin: alces, words probably borrowed from a Germanic language or another language of northern Europe. By the 8th century, during the Early Middle Ages, the moose was known as Old English: elch, elh, eolh, derived from the Proto-Germanic: *elho-, *elhon- and possibly connected with the Old Norse: elgr. Later, the species became known in Middle English as elk, elcke, or elke, appearing in the Latinized form alke, with the spelling alce borrowed directly from Latin: alces. Noting that elk "is not the normal phonetic representative" of the Old English elch, the Oxford English Dictionary derives elk from Middle High German: elch, itself from Old High German: elaho.
The American Cervus canadensis was recognized as a relative of the red deer (Cervus elaphus), of Europe, and so Cervus canadensis was referred to as "red deer" Richard Hakluyt, in his 1584 Discourse Concerning Western Planting, mentioned the continent's plentiful red deer (Early Modern English: greate store of ... redd dere). Similarly, John Smith's 1616 A Description of New England referred to red deer. Sir William Talbot's 1672 English translation of John Lederer's Latin Discoveries likewise called the species "Red Deer", but noted in parentheses that they were "for their unusual largeness improperly termed Elks by ignorant people". Both Thomas Jefferson's 1785 Notes on the State of Virginia and David Bailie Warden's 1816 Statistical, Political, and Historical Account of the United States used "red deer" to refer to Cervus canadensis..


There are numerous subspecies of elk described, with six from North America and four from Asia, although some taxonomists consider them different ecotypes or races of the same species (adapted to local environments through minor changes in appearance and behavior). Populations vary in antler shape and size, body size, coloration and mating behavior. DNA investigations of the Eurasian subspecies revealed that phenotypic variation in antlers, mane and rump patch development are based on "climatic-related lifestyle factors".
Of the six subspecies of elk known to have inhabited North America in historical times, four remain, including the Roosevelt's (C. canadensis roosevelti), tule (C. canadensis nannodes), Manitoban (C. canadensis manitobensis) and Rocky Mountain elk (C. canadensis nelsoni). The eastern elk (C. canadensis canadensis) and Merriam's elk (C. canadensis merriami) subspecies have been extinct for at least a century.
Four subspecies described in Asia include the Altai wapiti (C. canadensis sibiricus) and the Tianshan wapiti (C. canadensis songaricus). Two distinct subspecies found in China, Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula and Siberia are the Manchurian wapiti (C. canadensis xanthopygus) and the Alashan wapitis (C. canadensis alashanicus). The Manchurian wapiti is darker and more reddish in coloration than the other populations. The Alashan wapiti of north central China is the smallest of all subspecies, has the lightest coloration and is the least studied.
Recent DNA studies suggest that there are no more than three or four subspecies of elk. All American forms, aside from possibly the tule and Roosevelt's elk, seem to belong to one subspecies (Cervus canadensis canadensis). Even the Siberian elk (Cervus canadensis sibiricus) are more or less identical to the American forms and therefore may belong to this subspecies, too. However, the Manchurian wapiti (Cervus canadensis xanthopygus) is clearly distinct from the Siberian forms, but not distinguishable from the Alashan wapiti. The Chinese forms (the Sichuan deer, Kansu red deer, and Tibetan red deer) also belong to the wapiti, and were not distinguishable from each other by mitochondrial DNA studies. These Chinese subspecies are sometimes treated as a distinct species, namely the Central Asian red deer (Cervus hanglu), which also includes the Kashmir stag.
North American group
Roosevelt's elk (C. c. roosevelti)
Tule elk (C. c. nannodes)
Manitoban elk (C. c. manitobensis)
Rocky Mountain elk (C. c. nelsoni)
Eastern elk (C. c. canadensis; extinct)
Merriam's elk (C. c. merriami; extinct)
Eastern group
Altai wapiti (C. c. sibiricus)
Tian Shan wapiti (C. c. songaricus)
Manchurian wapiti (C. c. xanthopygus)
Alashan wapiti (C. c. alashanicus)
Tibetan red deer (C. c. wallichii)


Elk have thick bodies with slender legs and short tails. They have a shoulder height of 0.75–1.5 m (2 ft 6 in – 4 ft 11 in) with a nose-to-tail length of 1.6–2.7 m (5 ft 3 in – 8 ft 10 in). Males are larger and weigh 178–497 kg (392–1,096 lb) while females weigh 171–292 kg (377–644 lb). The largest of the subspecies is the Roosevelt elk (C. c. roosevelti), found west of the Cascade Range in the U.S. states of California, Oregon and Washington, and in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Roosevelt elk have been introduced into Alaska, where the largest males are estimated to weigh up to 600 kg (1,300 lb). More typically, male Roosevelt elk weigh around 318 to 499 kg (701 to 1,100 lb), while females weigh 261 to 283 kg (575 to 624 lb). Male tule elk weigh 204–318 kg (450–701 lb) while females weigh 170–191 kg (375–421 lb). The whole weights of adult male Manitoban elk range from 288 to 478 kilograms (635 to 1,054 lb). Females have a mean weight of 275 kilograms (606 lb). The elk is the second largest extant species of deer, after the moose.
Antlers are made of bone, which can grow at a rate of 2.5 centimeters (0.98 in) per day. While actively growing, a soft layer of highly vascularized skin known as velvet covers and protects them. This is shed in the summer when the antlers have fully developed. Bull elk typically have around six tines on each antler. The Siberian and North American elk carry the largest antlers while the Altai wapiti has the smallest. Roosevelt bull antlers can weigh 18 kg (40 lb). The formation and retention of antlers are testosterone-driven. In late winter and early spring, the testosterone level drops, which causes the antlers to shed.
During the fall, elk grow a thicker coat of hair, which helps to insulate them during the winter. Both male and female North American elk  grow thin neck manes; females of other subspecies may not. By early summer, the heavy winter coat has been shed. Elk are known to rub against trees and other objects to help remove hair from their bodies. All elk have small and clearly defined rump patches with short tails. They have different coloration based on the seasons and types of habitats, with gray or lighter coloration prevalent in the winter and a more reddish, darker coat in the summer. Subspecies living in arid climates tend to have lighter colored coats than do those living in forests. Most have lighter yellow-brown to orange-brown coats in contrast to dark brown hair on the head, neck, and legs during the summer. Forest-adapted Manchurian and Alashan wapitis have red or reddish-brown coats with less contrast between the body coat and the rest of the body during the summer months. Calves are born spotted, as is common with many deer species, and lose them by the end of summer. Adult Manchurian wapiti may retain a few orange spots on the back of their summer coats until they are older. This characteristic has also been observed in the forest-adapted European red deer.


Elk are among the most gregarious deer species. During the summer group size can reach 400 individuals. For most of the year, adult males and females are segregated into different herds. Female herds are larger while bulls form small groups and may even travel alone. Young bulls may associate with older bulls or female groups. Male and female herds come together during the mating season, which may begin in late August. Males try to intimidate rivals by vocalizing and displaying with their antlers. If neither bull backs down, they engage in antler wrestling, sometimes sustaining serious injuries.
Bulls have a loud, high-pitched, whistle-like vocalization known as bugling, which advertise the male's fitness over great distances. Unusual for a vocalization produced by a large animal, buglings can reach a frequency of 4000 Hz. This is achieved by blowing air from the glottis through the nasal cavities. Elk can produce deeper pitched (150 Hz) sounds using the larynx. Cows produce an alarm bark to alert other members of the herd to danger, while calves will produce a high-pitched scream when attacked.


Elk are ruminants and therefore have four-chambered stomachs. Unlike white-tailed deer and moose, which are chiefly browsers, elk are similar to cattle in that they are primarily grazers. But like other deer, they also browse. Elk have a tendency to do most of their feeding in the mornings and evenings, seeking sheltered areas in between feedings to digest. Their diets vary somewhat depending on the season, with native grasses being a year-round supplement, tree bark being consumed in winter, and forbs and tree sprouts during the summer. Elk consume an average of 9.1 kilograms (20 lb) of vegetation daily. Particularly fond of aspen sprouts which rise in the spring, elk have had some impact on aspen groves which have been declining in some regions where elk exist. Range and wildlife managers conduct surveys of elk pellet groups to monitor populations and resource use.


Predators of elk include wolves, coyotes, brown and black bears, cougars, and Siberian tigers.  Coyote packs mostly prey on elk calves, though they can sometimes take a winter- or disease-weakened adult. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which includes Yellowstone National Park, bears are the most significant predators of calves while healthy bulls have never been recorded to be killed by bears and such encounters can be fatal for bears. The killing of cows in their prime is more likely to affect population growth than the killing of bulls or calves.
Elk may avoid predation by switching from grazing to browsing. Grazing puts an elk in the compromising situation of being in an open area with its head down, leaving it unable to see what is going on in the surrounding area. Living in groups also lessens the risk of an individual falling to predation. Large bull elk are less vulnerable and can afford to wander alone, while cows stay in larger groups for protection for their calves. Bulls are more vulnerable to predation by wolves in late winter, after they have been weakened by months of chasing females and fighting. Males that have recently lost their antlers are more likely to be preyed upon.


At least 53 species of protist and animal parasites have been identified in elk. Most of these parasites seldom lead to significant mortality among wild or captive elk. Parelaphostrongylus tenuis (brainworm or meningeal worm) is a parasitic nematode known to affect the spinal cord and brain tissue of elk and other species, leading to death. The definitive host is the white-tailed deer, in which it normally has no ill effects. Snails and slugs, the intermediate hosts, can be inadvertently consumed by elk during grazing. The liver fluke Fascioloides magna and the nematode Dictyocaulus viviparus are also commonly found parasites that can be fatal to elk. Since infection by either of these parasites can be lethal to some commercial livestock species, their presence in elk herds is of some concern.
Chronic wasting disease, transmitted by a misfolded protein known as a prion, affects the brain tissue in elk, and has been detected throughout their range in North America. First documented in the late 1960s in mule deer, the disease has affected elk on game farms and in the wild in a number of regions. Elk that have contracted the disease begin to show weight loss, changes in behavior, increased watering needs, excessive salivation and urinating and difficulty swallowing, and at an advanced stage, the disease leads to death. No risks to humans have been documented, nor has the disease been demonstrated to pose a threat to domesticated cattle. In 2002, South Korea banned the importation of elk antler velvet due to concerns about chronic wasting disease.
The Gram-negative bacterial disease brucellosis occasionally affects elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the only place in the U.S. where the disease is still known to exist. In domesticated cattle, brucellosis causes infertility, abortions, and reduced milk production. It is transmitted to humans as undulant fever, producing influenza-like symptoms that may last for years. Though bison are more likely to transmit the disease to other animals, elk inadvertently transmitted brucellosis to horses in Wyoming and cattle in Idaho. Researchers are attempting to eradicate the disease through vaccinations and herd-management measures, which are expected to be successful. Nevertheless, research has been ongoing since 2002, and a successful vaccine has yet to be developed as of 2016.
A recent necropsy study of captive elk in Pennsylvania attributed the cause of death in 33 of 65 cases to either gastrointestinal parasites (21 cases, primarily Eimeria sp. and Ostertagia sp.) or bacterial infections (12 cases, mostly pneumonia).
Elk hoof disease was first noticed in the state of Washington in the late 1990s in the Cowlitz River basin, with sporadic reports of deformed hooves. Since then, the disease has spread rapidly with increased sightings throughout southwest Washington and into Oregon. The disease is characterised by deformed, broken, or missing hooves and leads to severe lameness in elk. The primary cause is not known, but it is associated with treponeme bacteria, which are known to cause digital dermatitis in commercial livestock. The mode of transmission is also not known, but it appears to be highly contagious among elk. Studies are being undertaken by government departments to determine how to halt or eliminate the disease.


The elk ranges from central Asia though to Siberia and east Asia and in North America. They can be found in open deciduous woodlands, boreal forests, upland moors, mountainous areas and grasslands. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) list the species as least-concern species. The habitat of Siberian elk in Asia is similar to that of the Rocky Mountain subspecies in North America. During the Late Pleistocene their range was much more extensive, being distributed across Eurasia, with remains being found as far west as France. These populations are most closely related to modern Asian populations of the elk. Their range collapsed at the start of the Holocene, possibly because they were specialized to cold periglacial tundra-steppe habitat. When this environment was replaced largely by closed forest the red deer might have outcompeted the elk. Relictual populations survived into the early Holocene (until around 3000 years ago) in southern Sweden and the Alps, where the environment remained favorable.


The Rocky Mountain elk subspecies was reintroduced by hunter-conservation organizations in the Appalachian region of the eastern U.S., where the now extinct eastern elk once lived. Since the late 1990s, elk were reintroduced and recolonized in the states of Wisconsin, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia. In the state of Kentucky, the elk population in 2022 had increased to over 15,000 animals. In 2016, a male elk, likely from the Smoky Mountains population, was sighted in South Carolina for the first time in nearly 300 years. Since 2015, elk have also been reintroduced in a number of other states, including Pennsylvania, Missouri, and introduced to the islands of Etolin and Afognak in Alaska. Elk were reintroduced in Michigan in 1918 after going extinct in 1875. Reintroduction of the elk into Ontario began in the early 20th century and is ongoing with limited success. As of 2014, population figures for all North American subspecies are around one million. Prior to the European colonization of North America, there were an estimated 10 million elk on the continent.
Elk and red deer were introduced to Argentina in the early 20th century. There they are now considered an invasive species, encroaching on Argentinian ecosystems where they compete for food with the indigenous Chilean huemul and other herbivores. This negative impact on native animal species has led the IUCN to identify the elk as one of the world's 100 worst invaders.
The introduction of deer to New Zealand began in the middle of the 19th century, and current populations are primarily European red deer, with only 15 percent being elk. There is significant hybridization of elk with red deer. These deer have had an adverse impact on forest regeneration of some plant species, as they consume more palatable species, which are replaced with those that are less favored by the elk. The long-term impact will be an alteration of the types of plants and trees found, and in other animal and plant species dependent upon them. As in Chile and Argentina, the IUCN has declared that red deer and elk populations in New Zealand are an invasive species.


Elk have played an important role in the cultural history of a number of peoples. Neolithic petroglyphs from Asia depict antler-less female elk, which have been interpreted as symbolizing life and sustenance. They were also frequently overlaid with boats and associated with rivers, suggesting they also represented paths to the underworld. Petroglyphs of elk were carved into cliffs by the Ancestral Puebloans of the southwestern U.S. hundreds of years ago. The elk was of particular importance to the Lakota and played a spiritual role in their society. The male elk was admired for its ability to attract mates, and Lakota men will play a courting flute imitating a bugling elk to attract women. Men used elks' antlers as love charms and wore clothes decorated with elk images.
The Rocky Mountain elk is the official state animal for Utah. An image of an elk and a moose appear on the state seal and flag of Michigan. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (B.P.O.E.) chose the elk as its namesake because a number of its attributes seemed appropriate for cultivation by members of the fraternity.  A prized possession of many members of the B.P.O.E. are jewel encrusted, gold mounted elk teeth.


Although breakdown figures for each game species are not available in the 2006 National Survey from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hunting of wild elk is most likely the primary economic impact.
While elk are not generally harvested for meat production on a large scale, some restaurants offer the meat as a specialty item and it is also available in some grocery stores. The meat has a taste somewhere between beef and venison and is higher in protein and lower in fat and cholesterol than beef, pork, and chicken. Elk meat is a good source of iron, phosphorus and zinc.
A male elk can produce 10 to 11 kilograms (22 to 24 lb) of antler velvet annually and on ranches in the United States, Canada and New Zealand, it is collected and sold to markets in East Asia, where it is used in medicine. Some cultures consider velvet to be an aphrodisiac. However, consuming velvet from elk in North America may be risky since velvet from animals infected with chronic wasting disease may contain prions that could result in a human getting variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.
Antlers are also used in artwork, furniture and other novelty items. All Asian subspecies, along with other deer, have been raised for their antlers in central and eastern Asia by Han Chinese, Turkic peoples, Tungusic peoples, Mongolians, and Koreans. Elk farms are relatively common in North America and New Zealand. Native Americans have used elk hides for tepee covering, clothing and footwear.
Since 1967, the Boy Scouts of America have assisted employees at the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming by collecting the antlers which are shed each winter. They are then auctioned, with 80% of the proceeds returned to the refuge. In 2010, 2,520 kilograms (5,560 lb) of antlers were auctioned, bringing in over $46,000.


The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of western Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Tunisia, being the only species of deer to inhabit Africa. Red deer have been introduced to other areas, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina. In many parts of the world, the meat (venison) from red deer is used as a food source.
Red deer are ruminants, characterized by a four-chambered stomach. Genetic evidence indicates that the red deer, as traditionally defined, is a species group, rather than a single species, though exactly how many species the group includes remains disputed. The closely related and slightly larger American elk or wapiti, native to North America and eastern parts of Asia, had been regarded as a subspecies of red deer, but recently it has been established as a distinct species. The ancestor of all red deer, including wapiti, probably originated in central Asia and resembled sika deer.
Although at one time red deer were rare in parts of Europe, they were never close to extinction. Reintroduction and conservation efforts, such as in the United Kingdom and Portugal, have resulted in an increase of red deer populations, while other areas, such as North Africa, have continued to show a population decline.


The red deer is the fourth-largest extant deer species, behind the moose, elk, and sambar deer. It is a ruminant, eating its food in two stages and having an even number of toes on each hoof, like camels, goats, and cattle. European red deer have a relatively long tail compared to their Asian and North American relatives. Subtle differences in appearance are noted between the various subspecies of red deer, primarily in size and antlers, with the smallest being the Corsican red deer found on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and the largest being the Caspian red deer (or maral) of Asia Minor and the Caucasus Region to the west of the Caspian Sea.
The deer of central and western Europe vary greatly in size, with some of the largest deer found in the Carpathian Mountains in Central Europe. Western European red deer, historically, grew to large size given ample food supply (including people's crops), and descendants of introduced populations living in New Zealand and Argentina have grown quite large in both body and antler size. Large red deer stags, like the Caspian red deer or those of the Carpathian Mountains, may rival North American elk in size. Female red deer are much smaller than their male counterparts.


The males of many subspecies also grow a short neck mane during the autumn. The male deer of the British Isles and Norway tend to have the thickest and most noticeable manes. Male Caspian red deer (C. e. maral) and Spanish red deer (C. e. hispanicus) do not carry neck manes. Male deer of all subspecies, however, tend to have stronger and thicker neck muscles than female deer, which may give them an appearance of having neck manes. Red deer hinds (females) do not have neck manes.


Only the stags have antlers, which start growing in the spring and are shed each year, usually at the end of winter. Antlers typically measure 71 cm (28 in) in total length and weigh 1 kg (2.2 lb), although large ones can grow to 115 cm (45 in) and weigh 5 kg (11 lb). Antlers, which are made of bone, can grow at a rate of 2.5 cm (1 in) a day. While an antler is growing, it is covered with highly vascular skin called velvet, which supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone.
The antlers are testosterone-driven and as the stag's testosterone levels drop in the autumn, the velvet is shed and the antlers stop growing. With the approach of autumn, the antlers begin to calcify and the stags' testosterone production builds for the approaching rut (mating season).
European red deer antlers are distinctive in being rather straight and rugose, with the fourth and fifth tines forming a "crown" or "cup" in larger males. Any tines in excess of the fourth and fifth tines grow radially from the cup, which are generally absent in the antlers of smaller red deer, such as Corsican red deer. Western European red deer antlers feature "bez" (second) tines that are either absent or smaller than the brow tines. However, bez tines occur frequently in Norwegian red deer. Antlers of Caspian red deer carry large bez tines and form less-developed cups than western European red deer, their antlers are thus more like the "throw back" top tines of the North American elk (C. canadensis), known as maraloid characteristics. A stag can (exceptionally) have antlers with no tines, and is then known as a switch. Similarly, a stag that does not grow antlers is a hummel.


The European red deer is found in southwestern Asia (Asia Minor and Caucasus regions), North Africa, and Europe. The red deer is the largest nondomesticated land mammal still existing in Ireland. The Barbary stag (which resembles the western European red deer) is the only member of the deer family represented in Africa, with the population centred in the northwestern region of the continent in the Atlas Mountains. As of the mid-1990s, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria were the only African countries known to have red deer.
In the Netherlands, a large herd (about 3000 animals counted in late 2012) lives in the Oostvaardersplassen, a nature reserve. Ireland has its own unique subspecies. In France, the population is thriving, having multiplied five-fold in the last half-century, increasing from 30,000 in 1970 to around 160,000 in 2014. The deer has particularly expanded its footprint into forests at higher altitudes than before.
In the UK, indigenous populations occur in Scotland, the Lake District, and the south west of England (principally on Exmoor). Not all of these are of entirely pure bloodlines, as some of these populations have been supplemented with deliberate releases of deer from parks, such as Warnham or Woburn Abbey, in an attempt to increase antler sizes and body weights. The University of Edinburgh found that, in Scotland, extensive hybridisation with the closely related sika deer has occurred.
Several other populations have originated either with "carted" deer kept for stag hunts being left out at the end of the hunt, escapes from deer farms, or deliberate releases. Carted deer were kept by stag hunts with no wild red deer in the locality and were normally recaptured after the hunt and used again; although the hunts are called "stag hunts", the Norwich Staghounds only hunted hinds (female red deer), and in 1950, at least eight hinds (some of which may have been pregnant) were known to be at large near Kimberley and West Harling; they formed the basis of a new population based in Thetford Forest in Norfolk. Further substantial red deer herds originated from escapes or deliberate releases in the New Forest, the Peak District, Suffolk, Lancashire, Brecon Beacons, and North Yorkshire, as well as many other smaller populations scattered throughout England and Wales, and they are all generally increasing in numbers and range. A census of deer populations in 2007 and again in 2011 coordinated by the British Deer Society records the red deer as having continued to expand their range in England and Wales since 2000, with expansion most notable in the Midlands and East Anglia.


The first red deer to reach Australia were probably the six that Prince Albert sent in 1860 from Windsor Great Park to Thomas Chirnside, who was starting a herd at Werribee Park, south west of Melbourne in Victoria. Further introductions were made in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia. Today, red deer in Australia range from Queensland south through New South Wales into Victoria and across to South Australia, with the numbers increasing. The Queensland, Victorian and most New South Wales strains can still be traced to the early releases, but South Australia's population, along with all others, is now largely recent farm escapees. This is having adverse effects on the integrity of wild herds, as now more and larger herds are being grown due to the superior genetics that have been attained by selective breeding.
Wild red deer are a feral pest species in Australia, do considerable harm to the natural environment, and are a significant road traffic hazard.


Red deer are held in captivity for a variety of reasons. The meat of the deer, called venison, was until recently restricted in the United Kingdom to those with connections to the aristocratic or poaching communities, and a licence was needed to sell it legally, but it is now widely available in supermarkets, especially in the autumn. The Queen still follows the custom of offering large pieces of venison to members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and others. Some estates in the Scottish Highlands still sell deer-stalking accompanied by a gillie in the traditional way, on unfenced land, while others operate more like farms for venison. Venison is widely considered to be both flavourful and nutritious. It is higher in protein and lower in fat than either beef or chicken.
The red deer can produce 10 to 15 kg (20 to 35 lb) of antler velvet annually. On ranches in New Zealand, China, Siberia, and elsewhere, this velvet is collected and sold to markets in East Asia, where it is used for holistic medicines, with South Korea being the primary consumer. In Russia, a medication produced from antler velvet is sold under the brand name Pantokrin (Russian: Пантокри́н; Latin: Pantocrinum).
The antlers themselves are also believed by East Asians to have medicinal purposes and are often ground up and used in small quantities.
Historically, related deer species such as Central Asian red deer, wapiti, Thorold's deer, and sika deer have been reared on deer farms in Central and Eastern Asia by Han Chinese, Turkic peoples, Tungusic peoples, Mongolians, and Koreans. In modern times, western countries such as New Zealand and United States have taken to farming European red deer for similar purposes.
Deer hair products are also used in the fly fishing industry, being used to tie flies.
Deer antlers are also used for decorative purposes and have been used for artwork, furniture and other novelty items. Deer antlers were and still are the source material for horn furniture. Already in the 15th century trophies of case were used for clothes hook, storage racks and chandeliers, the so-called Lusterweibchen. In the 19th century the European nobility discovered red deer antlers as perfect decorations for their manors and hunting castles. This fashion trend splashes over to upper- and middle-class households in the mid of the 19th century.
At the increasingly popular World Expositions, producers of horn furniture, mainly in Germany, Austria and the United States, such as Heinrich Friedrich Christoph Rampendahl and Friedrich Wenzel, showed their horn furniture and a kind of series manufacturing began. In recent times deer antler home decors can be found in home styling magazines.


The sika deer is one of the few deer species that does not lose its spots upon reaching maturity. Spot patterns vary with region. The mainland subspecies have larger and more obvious spots, in contrast to the Taiwanese and Japanese subspecies, whose spots are nearly invisible. Many introduced populations are from Japan, so they also lack significant spots.
The color of the pelage ranges from mahogany to black, and white individuals are also known. During winter, the coat becomes darker and shaggier and the spots less prominent, and a mane forms on the back of the males' necks. They are medium-sized herbivores, though they show notable size variation across their several subspecies and considerable sexual dimorphism, with males invariably much larger than females. They can vary from 50 to 110 cm (20 to 45 in) tall at the shoulder and from 95 to 180 cm (35 to 70 in) in head-and-body length. The tail measures about 7.5–13 cm (3–5 in) long.
The largest subspecies is the Manchurian sika deer (C. n. mantchuricus), in which males commonly weigh about 68–109 kg (150–240 lb) and females weigh 45–50 kg (100–110 lb), with large stags scaling up to 160 kg (350 lb), although there had been records of Yezo sika deer bulls weighing up to 170 or 200 kg (370 or 440 lb). On the other end of the size spectrum, in the Japanese sika deer (C. n. nippon), males weigh 40–70 kg (90–150 lb) and females weigh 30–40 kg (70–90 lb). All sikas are compact and dainty-legged, with short, trim, wedge-shaped heads and a boisterous disposition. When alarmed, they often display a distinctive flared rump, much like the American elk.
Sika stags have stout, upright antlers with an extra buttress up from the brow tine and a very thick wall. A forward-facing intermediate tine breaks the line to the top, which is usually forked. Occasionally, sika antlers develop some palmation (flat areas). Females carry a pair of distinctive black bumps on the forehead. Antlers can range from 28 to 45 cm (11 to 17+1⁄2 in) to more than 80 cm (30 in), depending on the subspecies. Stags also have distinctive manes during their mating period (rut).


Sika deer are found in the temperate and subtropical forests of eastern Asia, preferring areas with dense understory, and where snowfall does not exceed 10–20 cm (4–8 in). They tend to forage in patchy clearings of forests. Introduced populations are found in areas with similar habitats to their native ranges, including Western and Central Europe, Eastern United States, and New Zealand.


Sika deer have been introduced into a number of other countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Russia, Romania, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines (Jolo Island), Poland, Sweden, Finland, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Maine, Texas, Wyoming, Washington). In many cases, they were originally introduced as ornamental animals in parklands, but have established themselves in the wild. On Spieden Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington, they were introduced as a game animal.
In the UK and Ireland, several distinct feral populations now exist. Some of these are in isolated areas, for example on the island of Lundy, but others are contiguous with populations of the native red deer. Since the two species sometimes hybridize, a serious conservation concern exists. In research which rated the negative impact of introduced mammals in Europe, the sika deer was found to be among the most damaging to the environment and economy, along with the brown rat and muskrat.
In the 1900s, King Edward VII presented a pair of sika deer to John, the second Baron Montagu of Beaulieu. This pair escaped into Sowley Wood and were the basis of the sika to be found in the New Forest today. They were so prolific, culling had to be introduced in the 1930s to control their numbers.


Across its original range and in many areas to which it has been introduced, the sika is regarded as a particularly prized and elusive sportsman's quarry. In Britain, Ireland, and mainland Europe, sika display very different survival strategies and escape tactics from the indigenous deer. They have a marked tendency to use concealment in circumstances when red deer, for example, would flee, and have been seen to squat and lie belly-flat when danger threatens.
In the British Isles, sika are widely regarded as a serious threat to new and established woodlands, and public and private forestry bodies adopt policies of rigorous year-round culling.
The main predators of sika deer include tigers, wolves, leopards, and brown bears. Lynx and golden eagles target fawns.


The pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is a species of water kingfisher widely distributed across Africa and Asia. Originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, it has five recognised subspecies. Its black and white plumage and crest, as well as its habit of hovering over clear lakes and rivers before diving for fish, make it distinctive. Males have a double band across the breast, while females have a single gorget that is often broken in the middle. They are usually found in pairs or small family groups. When perched, they often bob their head and flick up their tail.


The pied kingfisher was one of the many bird species originally described by Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, who noted that it lived in Persia and Egypt. He named it Alcedo rudis. The German naturalist Friedrich Boie erected the genus Ceryle in 1828. The name is from classical Greek kērulos, an unidentified and probably mythical bird mentioned by Aristotle and other authors. The specific epithet rudis is Latin for "wild" or "rude".
The pied kingfisher is the only member of the genus Ceryle. Molecular analysis shows it is an early offshoot of the lineage that gave rise to American kingfishers of the genus Chloroceryle. The pied kingfisher was initially believed to be descended from an ancestral American green kingfisher which crossed the Atlantic Ocean about one million years ago. A more recent suggestion is that the pied kingfisher and the American green kingfishers are derived from an Old World species, with the pied kingfisher or its ancestor losing the metallic colouration afterwards.
There are five subspecies:
C. r. syriacus Roselaar, 1995 – Turkey to Israel east to southwest Iran (some ornithologists do not recognise this subspecies)
C. r. rudis (Linnaeus, 1758) – Egypt and Africa south of the Sahara
C. r. leucomelanurus Reichenbach, 1851 – east Afghanistan through India to south China and north Indochina
C. r. travancoreensis Whistler, 1935 – southwest India
C. r. insignis Hartert, 1910 – east and southeast China, Hainan Island


It is common throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia from Turkey to India to China. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate, other than short-distance seasonal movements. In India it is distributed mainly on the plains and is replaced in the higher hills of the Himalayas by the crested kingfisher (Megaceryle lugubris).
The pied kingfisher is estimated to be one of the three most numerous kingfishers in the world; the other two are the common kingfisher and collared kingfisher. It is a noisy bird, making it hard to miss.


The metallic green coloration of the beetle is created structurally, caused by the reflection of mostly circularly polarised light; like other scarabs this is left circularly polarised. When viewed through a right circular polariser, the beetle appears to be colorless. There are also different colors besides the common green; there is also copper, grey and black. A lot of specimens have white speckles while some have very few or none at all.  It has been described as a left-hand narrow-band elliptical polarizer.


It is such a small plant that it relies upon disturbance to compete with other plants for light. Once a common weed in farmers' fields, it has suffered from agricultural intensification and is now mainly seen in gardens and around railways, as well as roadsides and industrial sites. Its UK distribution shows it favours chalky soil.
This species is native to continental Europe, found mainly in south and central Europe, though it reaches as far north as Sweden. It is considered to have 'archaeophyte' status in the United Kingdom ie. is thought to have been introduced many centuries ago. It has also been introduced to the US and Canada.


Chaetodon auriga is found in the Indo-Pacific region, from the Red Sea and eastern Africa (south to Mossel Bay, South Africa) to the Hawaiian, Marquesas and Ducie islands, north to southern Japan, south to Lord Howe Island and Rapa Iti, at depths of 1–35 metres (3–115 ft).


This is a medium-sized swift, measuring from 12 to 15 cm (4.7 to 5.9 in) in length, with a wingspan of 27 to 30 cm (11 to 12 in) and a weight ranging from 17 to 30 g (0.60 to 1.06 oz). The sexes are identical in plumage, though males average slightly heavier than females. The adult's plumage is a dark sooty olive above and grayish brown below, with a slightly paler rump and uppertail covert feathers, and a significantly paler throat. Its upperparts are the most uniformly colored of all the Chaetura swifts, showing little contrast between back and rump. Its beak is black, as are its feet and legs. Its iris is dark brown. Juvenal plumage (that held by juvenile birds) is very similar to that of adults, but with whitish tips to the outer webs of the secondaries and tertials.
The chimney swift's wings are slender, curved and long, extending as much as 1.5 in (3.8 cm) beyond the bird's tail when folded. Its wingtips are pointed, which helps to decrease air turbulence (and therefore drag) during flight. Its humerus (the bone in the inner part of the wing) is quite short, while the bones farther out (more distally) along the wing are elongated, a combination which allows the bird to flap very quickly. In flight, it holds its wings stiffly, alternating between rapid, quivering flaps and longer glides. Its flight profile is widely described as a "cigar with wings"—a description first used by Roger Tory Peterson. Although the bird often appears to beat its wings asynchronously during flight, photographic and stroboscopic studies have shown that it beats them in unison. The illusion that it does otherwise is heightened by its very fast and highly erratic flight, with many rapid changes of direction.
The legs of the chimney swift, like those of all swifts, are very short. Its feet are small but strong, with very short toes that are tipped with sharp, curved claws. The toes are anisodactyl—three forward, one back—like those of most birds, but the chimney swift can swivel its back toe (its hallux) forward to help it get a better grip. Unlike the legs and feet of most birds, those of the chimney swift have no scales; instead, they are covered with smooth skin.
Its tail is short and square, measuring only 4.8 to 5.5 cm (1.90 to 2.15 in) in length. All ten of its tail feathers have shafts which extend as much as 1.3 cm (0.5 in) beyond the vanes, ending in sharp, stiff points. These help the bird to prop itself against vertical surfaces.
The chimney swift has large, deep set eyes. These are protected by small patches of coarse, black, bristly feathers, which are located in front of each eye. The swift can change the angle of these feathers, which may help to reduce glare. It is far-sighted and, like some birds of prey, this swift is bifoveal: each eye having both a temporal and a central fovea. These are small depressions in the retina where visual acuity is highest, and help to make its vision especially acute. Like most vertebrates, it is able to focus both eyes at once; however, it is also able to focus a single eye independently.
Its bill is very small, with a culmen that measures a mere 5 mm (0.20 in) in length. However, its gape is huge, extending back below its eyes, and allowing the bird to open its mouth very widely. Unlike many insectivorous birds, it lacks rictal bristles at the base of the beak.


The chimney swift looks very much like the closely related Vaux's swift, but is slightly larger, with relatively longer wings and tail, slower wingbeats and a greater tendency to soar. It tends to be darker on the breast and rump than the Vaux's swift, though there is some overlap in plumage coloring. It can be as much as 30 percent heavier than Vaux's swift, and its wings, which are proportionately narrower, show a pronounced bulge in the inner secondaries. The chimney swift is smaller, paler and shorter tailed than the black swift. In Central America, it is most similar to Chapman's swift, but it is paler (matte olive rather than glossy black) and has a stronger contrast between its pale throat and the rest of its underparts than does its more uniformly colored relative.


A widespread breeding visitor to much of the eastern half of the United States and the southern reaches of eastern Canada, the chimney swift migrates to South America for the winter. It is a rare summer visitor to the western U.S, and has been recorded as a vagrant in Anguilla, Barbados, Greenland, Jamaica, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is found over open country, savanna, wooded slopes and humid forests.
The chimney swift's wintering grounds were only discovered in 1944, when bands from birds banded (ringed) in North America were recovered in Peru. An indigenous Peruvian had been wearing the bands as a necklace.


The chimney swift is a monogamous breeder which normally mates for life, though a small percentage of birds change partners. Pairs perform display flights together, gliding with their wings upraised in a steep "V", and sometimes rocking from side to side. Breeding birds arrive as early as mid March in the southern U.S., and as late as mid-May in the Canadian provinces.
Before the arrival of European colonists into North America, the chimney swift nested in hollow trees; now, it uses human-built structures almost exclusively. While the occasional nest is still built in a hollow tree (or, exceptionally, in an abandoned woodpecker nest), most are now found inside chimneys, with smaller numbers in airshafts, the dark corners of lightly used buildings, cisterns, or wells. The nest is a shallow bracket made of sticks, which the birds gather in flight, breaking them off trees. The sticks are glued together (and the nest to a vertical surface) with copious amounts of the bird's saliva. During the breeding season, each adult's salivary glands more than double in size, from 7 mm × 2 mm (0.276 in × 0.079 in) in the non-breeding season to 14 mm × 5 mm (0.55 in × 0.20 in) during the breeding season.
Unlike some swift species, which mate in flight, chimney swifts mate while clinging to a vertical surface near their nest. They copulate daily, until the clutch is complete. The female typically lays 4–5 eggs, though clutch sizes range from 2 to 7. The eggs, which are long and elliptical in shape, are moderately glossy, smooth and white, and measure 20 mm × 13 mm (0.79 in × 0.51 in). Each weighs nearly 10 percent of the female's body weight. Incubated by both parents, the eggs hatch after 19 days. Baby chimney swifts are altricial—naked, blind and helpless when they hatch. Fledglings leave the nest after a month.
The average chimney swift's life span is 4.6 years, but one is known to have lived more than 14 years. It was originally banded as an adult, and was recaptured in another banding operation some 12.5 years later.


Mississippi kites, peregrine falcons and merlins are raptors that are known to take adult chimney swifts in flight, being among the select few avian hunters fast enough to overtake the appropriately named swift on the wing. Eastern screech-owls have been seen attacking colonies, as have non-avian predators including eastern rat snakes, northern raccoons and tree squirrels. These are most likely to take nestlings but may take some nesting adults as well. When disturbed by potential predators (including humans) at the colony, adult chimney swifts slap their wings together after arching back and taking flight, making a very loud noise known either as "booming" or "thunder noises". When disturbed, nestlings make a loud, raspy raah, raah, raah sound. Both sounds seem designed to startle potential predators.
The chimney swift carries a number of internal and external parasites. It is the type host for the nematode species Aproctella nuda, the feather mite species Euchineustathia tricapitosetosa, and the biting lice species  Dennyus dubius, and is also known to carry the tapeworm species Pseudochoanotaenia collocaliae. Its nest is known to host the Hemiptera species Cimexopsis nyctali, which is similar to the bed bug and can (on rare occasions) become a pest species in houses.


Chalcoela iphitalis, the sooty-winged chalcoela, is a moth species of the family Crambidae that occurs throughout North America. They are seen as far south as California, Arizona and South Carolina and as far north as Ontario. Adults can be seen from May to August. The head, body and front portion of the forewings are yellow-orange while the hindwing and back portion of the forewings are grey and silver. The back edge of the hindwing has black spots.
It was first described as Cataclysta iphitalis by Francis Walker in 1859.
The larvae are parasitoids, feeding on the larvae of paper wasps, including species such as Polistes dominulus, P. exclamans, P. metricus, Mischocyttarus flavitarsis and P. apachus. For example, M. flavitarsis nest cells are often invaded by the larvae at night because the wasps cannot see them. The larvae migrate among the cells, consuming wasp larvae and pupae. They will then pupate, spinning their cocoons in empty cells. M. flavitarsis do not attempt to rid the nest of the parasite. Instead, they will continue as a nest or abandon and renest elsewhere.


Breeding pairs of amethyst sunbird are widely spaced, and the female builds the nest. Favoured trees include exotic eucalypts and pines, and are often close to buildings or human activity. Nests are attached to a drooping branch, below the canopy, or hidden by foliage. Nests are built from fine grass stems, which are bound together with cobwebs. The nest is often decorated with lichens, or other debris. Two speckled eggs are laid, but successive clutches may be raised from the same nest in a single season. Nests are parasitized by green-backed honeybird and Klaas's cuckoo.


Amethyst sunbirds are widespread residents of woodland, mesic savanna, forest edge and suburban gardens. They occur only sparsely in dry savanna or low dry regions, where they keep to riparian woods or concentrations of nectar-bearing plants, and are decidedly scarce in the Limpopo valley and mopane regions. A distinct summer influx is notable in the Zambezi valley and Great Zimbabwe woodlands, and they are strictly summer visitors (September/October to April) to the Kalahari sand (or Gusu) woodlands, where they appear in high densities when the Baikiaea trees are in flower. On seaward-facing slopes, they are very common residents up to 1,800 metres, with high reporting rates in afromontane forest and valley bushveld.


The common emerald dove (Chalcophaps indica), also called Asian emerald dove and grey-capped emerald dove, is a widespread resident breeding pigeon native to the tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.  The dove is also known by the names of green dove and green-winged pigeon. The common emerald dove is the state bird of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Pacific emerald dove and Stephan's emerald dove were both considered conspecific.


The wrentit (Chamaea fasciata) is a small bird that lives in chaparral, oak woodlands, and bushland on the western coast of North America. It is the only species in the genus Chamaea.
Its systematics have been the subject of much debate, the wrentit having been placed in many different families by different authors for as long as it has been known to science. Its common name reflects the uncertainty, and its external resemblance to both tits and wrens. It is by no means closely related to either, however, and more recent and comprehensive phylogenetic studies support it belonging to the parrotbills.


The wrentit is a small, 15 cm (5.9 in) bird with uniform dull olive, brown, or grayish plumage. It has short wings and a long tail often held high (hence the comparison to wrens). It has a short bill and a pale iris. Given its retiring nature and loud voice, the wrentit is more likely to be detected by its call than by sight. The distinct sound that it makes is similar to the sound of a ping-pong ball falling on the table.


The wrentit is a sedentary (non-migratory) resident of a narrow strip of coastal habitat along the western coast of North America, being found from Oregon south through California, to Baja California, the northern state of the Baja California peninsula.
It is usually restricted to certain chaparral and woodland habitats. It nests in 1 metre (3 ft) high shrubs such as poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis) and California blackberry (Rubus ursinus). Logging and other changes in habitat have led to this species expanding its range recently, particularly northwards.


Wrentits mate for life, forming pair bonds only a few months after hatching. Both sexes sing; the faster rhythm of the male's song is one of the few ways to differentiate the sexes. Both sexes also defend their territory year-round and participate in building the nest, a four-stage process that takes about two weeks. The three or four eggs are incubated for 14 days, again by both sexes. The chicks fledge after 15 days (at which stage they are unable to fly) and are fed by their parents for another 40 days.
The wrentit feeds by skulking through dense scrub gleaning exposed insects found by sight. It feeds primarily on beetles, caterpillars, bugs, and ants, but also takes small berries and seeds.


Chamaebatia foliolosa is a species of aromatic evergreen shrub in the rose family known by the common names mountain misery and bearclover. It is endemic to the mountains of California, where it grows in coniferous forests. The Miwok tribe's name for the plant was kit-kit-dizze. It was used as an herbal remedy for colds, coughs, rheumatism, chicken pox, measles, smallpox and other diseases.


Chamaeleo dilepis is a large chameleon, reaching a total length (including tail) of 35 cm (14 in). Colouring ranges through various shades of green, yellow, and brown. There is usually a pale stripe on the lower flanks and one to three pale patches higher on the flanks.


Chamaeleo dilepis has a very wide distribution, occurring throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa from as far north as Ethiopia and Somalia to a western extreme of Cameroon, and as far south as northern South Africa. It inhabits coastal forest, moist or dry savannah, woodland and bushy grasslands, and may also venture into rural and suburban areas.


Chamaeleo dilepis does well in captivity. It is mostly active during the day. When this species is in captivity, it is very important to create an environment very much like its natural climate. It may be fed a diet including crickets, mealworms, wax worms, and other locally caught insects. Its estimated life expectancy is 5–8 years.


Fireweed is often abundant in wet calcareous to slightly acidic soils in open fields, pastures, and particularly burned-over lands. It is a pioneer species that quickly colonizes open areas with little competition, such as the sites of forest fires and forest clearings. Plants grow and flower as long as there is open space and plenty of light. Fireweed reaches its average peak colonization after five years and then begins to be replaced as trees and brush grow larger. Seeds remain viable in the soil seed bank for many years. When a new fire or other disturbance occurs that opens up the ground to light again, the seeds germinate. Some areas with heavy seed counts in the soil can, after burning, be covered with pure dense stands of this species and when in flower the landscape is turned into fields of color.
Fireweed is an effective colonizer; it may not be present until after a fire has moved through a landscape. Because of its very high dispersal capacity, "propagule pressure" from its regional presence will let it quickly colonize a disturbed area.  Once seedlings are established, the plant quickly reproduces and covers the disturbed area via seeds and rhizomes. It is somewhat adapted to fire as well and so can prevent the reintroduction of fire to the landscape. Fireweed is well adapted to seed in severely burned areas as well, because the mineral soil that is exposed due to the removal of organic soil layers provides a good seedbed.
In Britain the plant was considered a rare species in the 18th century, and one confined to a few locations with damp, gravelly soils. It was misidentified as great hairy willowherb in contemporary floras. The plant's rise from local rarity to widespread abundance seems to have occurred at the same time as the expansion of the railway network and the associated soil disturbance. The plant became locally known as bombweed due to its rapid colonization of bomb craters in the Second World War.
Bears and elk are known to favor the plant as food.


Chamaerops humilis is one of only two palm species native to continental Europe, the other being Phoenix theophrasti. It is mainly found in southwestern Europe, over all the south coasts of Spain and Portugal, central and southern Italy, some parts of the southern Mediterranean coast of France and Monaco, in the islands of Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Majorca, Ibiza, Menorca, Formentera (Balearic Islands) as well as northwest Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia). It is one of the northernmost naturally occurring palms in the world, with the northernmost standing in Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy, at 44°N.
Although not naturally occurring far north from the Mediterranean, Chamaerops humilis grows well as far north as southern England.


The Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) is a small cosmopolitan shorebird (40-44 g) of the family Charadriidae that breeds on the shores of saline lakes, lagoons, and coasts, populating sand dunes, marshes, semi-arid desert, and tundra. Both male and female birds have pale plumages with a white underside, grey/brown back, dark legs and a dark bill, however additionally the male birds also exhibit very dark incomplete breast bands, and dark markings either side of their head, therefore the Kentish plover is regarded as sexually dimorphic
Charadrius alexandrinus has a large geographical distribution, ranging from latitudes of 10º to 55º, occupying North Africa, both mainland, such as Senegal, and island, such as the Cape Verde archipelago, Central Asia, for example alkaline lakes in China, and Europe, including small populations in Spain and Austria. Some populations are migratory and often winter in Africa, whereas other populations, such as various island populations, do not migrate. Its common English name comes from the county of Kent, where it was once found, but it has not bred in Britain since 1979.
Kentish plovers are ground-nesting birds, often with a preference for low, open, moist nesting sites away from thick vegetation and human activity. They use a number of materials to build their nests, mainly consisting of shells, pebbles, grass and leaves in a small scrape in the ground. Like most plovers, the Kentish plovers are predominantly insectivores, feeding on a large range of arthropods and invertebrates depending on the environment, by using a run and stop method.


The Kentish plover is a small shorebird weighing around 40 g as an adult. Both male and female birds have black bills and dark legs, however adults have dimorphic plumage. During the breeding season, males have a black horizontal head bar, two incomplete dark breast-bands on each side of their breast, black ear coverts and a rufous nape and crown (although there is some variation between breeding populations), whereas the females are paler in these areas, without the dark markings. In the early breeding season, it is easy to distinguish between males and females since the ornaments are very pronounced, but as the breeding season progresses, the differences between the two sexes decrease. Moreover, males have longer tarsi and longer flank feathers than females. Longer flank feathers are thought to be an advantage for incubation and brood care, as the quality of feathers is associated with heat insulation.
There are multiple significant predictors of plumage ornamentation in Kentish plovers. Firstly, the interaction between the advancement of the breeding season and rainfall seem to affect ornamentation. Male ornaments become more elaborated over the course of a breeding season in regions with high rainfall, whereas in regions with low rainfall, male ornaments become lighter. Secondly, the interaction between the breeding system and the sex can predict the degree of plumage ornamentation. In polygamous populations, the sexual ornaments are more pronounced, generating a stronger sexual dimorphism than in monogamous populations. The difference is especially witnessed in males, whereby the ornaments are darker and smaller in polygamous populations compared to monogamous populations, where males have lighter and larger ornaments. This is thought to be the result of a trade-off between the size and intensity of the ornaments.


Kentish plovers have an extremely wide geographical distribution and their habitats vary not just spatially but environmentally too. They are known to reside and breed in multiple types of habitat, from desert with ground temperatures reaching 50 °C to tundra. The distribution of this species’ breeding areas covers Europe, Asia and Africa,). In Europe, populations are typically found in the west; although there was once a breeding population in Hungary, Kentish plovers no longer breed there. In Africa, populations are found on the southern coast of Senegal and along the Northern coast of the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea coast. The breeding area continues along the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain in the Middle East. Small populations can be found on islands too, such as the Cape Verde archipelago, the Canary Islands, and the Azores. It is a rare vagrant in Australia. Some populations do not migrate, such as the Maio (Cape Verde) population, however other populations can migrate reasonable distances, for example, plovers that spend winter in North Africa have been known to migrate to Turkey and Greece in the spring. Some birds breeding in western Europe are not known to travel very far, just within Europe, however some do travel, mainly to Western Africa.


The breeding habitats are most commonly alkali lake shores, wetlands, salt marshes, and coastland, which is fitting with the results of a study that investigated what makes an environment suitable for a breeding habitat for the Kentish plover. By analysing four variables of all known nests, the study found that plovers prefer to nest in areas of low elevation, low vegetation, high moisture and places faraway from human activity and settlements,.

There have been observations of parents moving their chicks from poor food areas to better food areas, with chicks subsequently growing stronger in the high food areas. This suggests that parents strategically move their chicks and change habitats. Moving young has benefits: protection from predators, obtaining more food, avoiding competition for food and space, avoiding potential infanticide due to competition, and avoiding territory defences from others. However, this is a trade-off as there are also costs to moving young: moving expends a lot of energy, especially in young, therefore chick growth may be stunted as energy is used on movement rather than growth, the chance of mortality due to starvation or predation increases whilst moving through open areas and the area of high food may have a lot of predators in it already. Overall, chick growth and brood survival benefit from moving to a higher food area, therefore increasing reproductive success of parents, hence why the parents move their chicks. The study also found that the larger and heavier females were more likely to move chicks, perhaps because they could defend their chicks from neighbouring parents


Kentish plovers inhabit sandy areas or salt-marshes in close proximity to water. Inland populations can be found near alkaline or saline lakes, ponds or reservoirs. The populations inhabiting the coastal regions can be found in semi-desert habitats i.e. on barren beaches, near lagoons and sand extractions on beaches or dunes.
Kentish plovers are territorial shorebirds; the male usually has a territory and attracts females with courtship displays. The parents are actively defending their nest territories from predators by chasing, fighting or posturing them. When approached by predators in close proximity to the nest, the Kentish plovers quickly run away from the nest and start doing distraction displays to focus the predator's attention on themselves and lure them away from the nest. These displays include calling or crawling on the ground flapping their wings. Males tend to be more aggressive than females, but females performing riskier defensive behaviors than males. When a plover's territory has been invaded, it invades a neighboring family's territory. This is when fights between males frequently occur because the plovers see their broods threatened. During such fights, it occurs that chicks get injured or even killed. When approached by a predator, chicks usually try to find a spot where they can hide, crouch down and stay motionless to remain unseen. When they are older, they try to run away with their parents.


Kentish plovers either nest solitarily or in a loose semicolonial manner. They are ground-nesting birds that lay their eggs in small shallow scrapes prepared by the male during courtship on the bare ground. Selection of the breeding ground is essential for the survival of nests and broods; nests are placed near the water on bare earth or in sparse vegetation; often on slightly elevated sites in order to have a good view of the surroundings to spot predators from a distance or near small bushes, plants or grass clusters, where the eggs are partly sheltered from predators. Nests are filled with nest material i.e. pebble stones, small parts of shells, fish bones, small twigs, grass and other debris. The modal clutch size comprises three eggs, although some nests are already completed with one or two eggs. In fresh or incomplete nests, the eggs tend to be fully exposed, but as the incubation period progresses, the amount of nest material increases and the eggs become practically completely covered. During the incubation period, the Kentish plover recesses for variable periods of time mainly to forage or to perform other activities essential for self-maintenance. To compensate for the resulting lack of presence and increased predation risk, they use nest materials to cover and hence camouflage the eggs and keep them insulated. Kentish plovers regulate the amount of nest material actively. This was shown experimentally in a study by increasing or decreasing the amount of nest material artificially. Within 24hrs, the plovers had restored the amount of nest material back to original. This is of advantage because nest materials help a good insulation of eggs, therefore preventing egg temperature fluctuations )  (hence avoiding embryo hypothermia) and reducing the energetic costs of incubation for the parents. By regulating the amount of nest material, the Kentish plovers balances the advantages i.e. insulation and anti-predator defence and the disadvantages of nest material i.e. overheating. Incubation is the process by which the eggs are kept at optimal temperature i.e. between 37 °C and 38 °C for the embryonic development of birds with most of the heat deriving from the incubating bird. Kentish plover eggs are incubated for 20–25 days by both sexes; females mostly incubate during the day whilst males incubate during the night. Female Kentish plovers usually lose mass during the day, which is unexpected since they get relieved by the males for a variable amount of time. The loss would be much higher if the females were to incubate alone. This loss is a cost of incubation due to the depletion of fat stores and the evaporation of water.


Kentish plovers either forage individually or in loose flocks of 20-30 individuals (outside the breeding season), and occasionally can incorporate into larger flocks of up to 260 individuals of multiple species. Their main source of food consists of miniature aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates such as insects and their larvae (e.g. beetles, grasshoppers or flies), molluscs, crustaceans, spiders and marine worms. They are obligate visual foragers and often feed at the shoreline of lakes, lagoons or ponds in invertebrate-rich moist-soil areas. They forage by looking, stopping or running and then pecking to catch the prey, but also probe the sand to search for prey, or catch flies by holding their mouths open. The Kentish plover's capability of identifying cues for prey is influenced by light, wind and rain. At night, their ability of finding prey might be restricted, but plovers have been shown to have a good nocturnal vision due to their large eyes and enhanced retinal visual sensitivity,.


The collared plover (Charadrius collaris) is a small shorebird in the plover family, Charadriidae. It lives along coasts and riverbanks of the tropical to temperate Americas, from central Mexico south to Chile and Argentina.
This small plover is 18 centimetres (7.1 in) long and weighs 35 grams (1.2 oz). Its upperparts are brown and the underparts white in all plumages. Adults have a black breast band. The male has a white forehead, bordered above by a black frontal bar, and below by a black stripe from the bill to the eye.  The midcrown and nape are chestnut and the legs are yellow. In flight, the flight feathers are dark with a white wing bar, and the tail shows white sides.
The female collared plover is usually very similar to the male, but some individuals can be sexed by a brown tinge to the black areas. Immature birds lack any black on the head, and the breast band is replaced by brown patches on each side of the chest. The flight call is a sharp metallic pip.
Two sympatric Charadrius species are very similar: The snowy plover is similar in size and structure to this species, but is paler above, has dark legs, and never has a complete breastband. semipalmated plovers are larger, thicker-billed, and has a pale collar. Ironically, it is the lack of a pale collar which gives the collared plover its English language and scientific names.
The collared plover is found on sandy coasts, estuarine mud, inland riverbanks and open sandy savannas. It breeds from Mexico south through Central America and most of South America. It also occurs on some of the southern Caribbean islands, and both Trinidad and Tobago. It appears to be mainly sedentary, although there is some evidence for limited seasonal movements. Collared plovers feed on insects and other invertebrates, which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups. This species is not particularly gregarious, and seldom forms flocks. It is usually very wary.
The timing of breeding activity varies depending on location: November to December in western Mexico, March to June in Costa Rica, January in Venezuela, and March in the lowlands of Ecuador. The male's courtship display involves fluffing out his breast feathers and running after the female; the species has no known aerial display. The nest is a bare ground scrape well above the tide or flood line on coasts and river shores or islands, or inland, often next to low cover, such as tufts of grass. The clutch is two pale buff eggs, spotted with brown. Like many ground-nesting species, adults perform a broken-wing display to lure presumed threats away from their nest and young.


The common ringed plover's breeding habitat is open ground on beaches or flats across northern Eurosiberia  and in Arctic northeast Canada. Some birds breed inland, and in western Europe they nest as far south as northern France. They nest on the ground in an open area with little or no plant growth.
If a potential predator approaches the nest, the adult will walk away from the scrape, calling to attract the intruder and feigning a broken wing. Once the intruder is far enough from the nest, the plover flies off.
Common ringed plovers are migratory and winter in coastal areas south to Africa. In Norway, geolocators have revealed that adult breeding birds migrate to West Africa. Many birds in Great Britain and northern France are resident throughout the year.


This chunky plover is long-legged and thick-billed. Breeding males have grey backs and white underparts. The breast, forehead and nape are chestnut, and there is a black eye mask. The female is duller, and winter and juvenile birds lack the chestnut, apart from a hint of rufous on the head. Legs are greenish and the bill black.
In all plumages, it is very similar to lesser sand plover, Charadrius mongolus. Separating the species may be straightforward in mixed wintering flocks on an Indian beach, where the difference in size and structure is obvious; it is another thing altogether to identify a lone vagrant to western Europe, where both species are very rare. The problem is compounded in that the Middle Eastern race of the greater sand plover is the most similar to the lesser species.


The white-fronted plover or white-fronted sandplover (Charadrius marginatus) is a small (45-50 g) shorebird of the family Charadriidae that inhabits sandy beaches, dunes, mudflats and the shores of rivers and lakes in sub-saharan Africa and Madagascar. It nests in small shallow scrapes in the ground and lays clutches of one to three eggs. The species is monogamous and long-lived, with a life expectancy of approximately 11 years. The vast majority of pairs that mate together stay together during the following years of breeding and retain the same territory. The white-fronted plover has a similar appearance to the Kentish plover, with a white fore crown and dark bands connecting the eyes to the bill.


The average white-fronted plover weighs approximately 45-50 g, and the two sexes differ slightly in plumage coloration. Adult male plovers show a white forecrown and supercilium, with a dark band crossing the mid crown, with the rest of the crown a sandy grey colour. The face is mainly white, with a blackish brown stripe running from behind the eye to the ear coverts. The mantle, back, and rump is light greyish brown, with pale brown to grey fringing feathers. The upper covert and central feathers of the tail are black, and the lateral feathers are white. Primaries and secondaries are dark brown with white shafts, bases, and inner webs. White-fronted plovers also have a pale dusky-brown lateral patch on the upper breast, and white underparts, occasionally with a washed chestnut lower breast and upper belly. The eyes are brown, the bill is black, and the legs are pale grey, green-grey, or pale green/olive.
Adult females have a similar appearance to adult males, however the black crown band is less defined and not as thick, and may even be absent in some cases.
Juveniles have similar markings to adult females, but always lack the crown band altogether, and there is no black colouration on the head- lores are brown. The lateral breast patch is very variable between individuals of this species.


The voice of a white-fronted plover is often a gentle piping wit, woo-et, twirit, and tirit-tirit, as well as pi-peep. When a plover is defending a territory, a harsh chiza-chiza can be heard, followed by a purrr or squeak. When the incomplete egg set is visited, a croo sound is called, and during incubation a short clirrup sound or clup is made when alarmed. Other alarm calls consist of kittup and chirrrt. Adult courtship is a sharp krewwwwww, and freshly hatched chicks often call a tsick, to get the attention of their parent.