List of terms used in bird topography

The following is a list of terms used in bird topography:

Plumage features

• Back
• Belly
• Breast
• Cheek
• Chin
• Crest
• Crown
• Crown patch
• Ear-coverts
• Eye-ring
• Eyestripe (or eye line)
• Feather, see category:
• Flanks
• Forecrown
• Gorget
• Hood (or half-hood)
• Lateral throat stripe
• Lores
• Malar
• Mantle
• Mask
• Moustachial stripe
• Nape
• Nuchal collar
• Operculum (on pigeons).
• Pennaceous feathers
• Postocular stripe
• Remiges
• Rump
• Spectacles
• Submoustachial stripe
• Supercilium
• Supraloral
• Parts of the tail include:
• Rectrices
• Tail corner
• Terminal band
• Subterminal band
• Throat
• Undertail coverts
• Upper mandible (or maxilla)
• Uppertail coverts
• Vent, crissum or cloaca
• Vent band
• Parts of the wings include:
• Alula
• Apical spot
• Axillar
• Bend of wing
• Carpal covert
• Emargination
• Greater coverts
• Leading edge of wing
• Lesser coverts
• Marginal coverts
• Median coverts
• Mirror (on gulls)
• Primaries
• Primary projection
• Primary numbers (e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.)
• Scapulars
• Scapular crescent (on gulls)
• Secondaries
• Speculum
• Tertials
• Tertial step (on gulls)
• Trailing edge of wing
• Upper scapulars
• Wing bar
• Wing coverts
• Wing edging
• Wing linings
• Wing tip or point (denoted by the number of the longest primary, counted from the carpal joint)

Bare-parts features

• Beak or bill
• Cere
• Culmen
• Gape
• Gonys
• Gonydeal angle
• Gonydeal spot
• Nail (of beak)
• Nares
• Rhamphotheca
• Gnathotheca
• Rhinotheca
• Tomia
• Brooding patch
• Caruncle (bird anatomy)
• Comb, or Coxcomb
• Orbital skin, or orbital ring
• Tarsus
• Tibia
• Wattle

See also

• Glossary of bird terms

References