(n.) In England, a species of thrush (Turdus merula), a singing bird with a fin note; the merle. In America the name is given to several birds, as the Quiscalus versicolor, or crow blackbird; the Agelaeus phoeniceus, or red-winged blackbird; the cowbird; the rusty grackle, etc. See Redwing.
Example Sentences:
(1) We replicated DNA fingerprints of snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) and hypervariable restriction fragments of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) to estimate the between-blot and between-lane components of variance in molecular weights of restriction fragments.
(2) To determine across-year patterns in plasma testosterone (T) and corticosterone (B) levels in free-living birds, we took blood samples in the same 2-week breeding period during 4 consecutive years from territorial male red-winged blackbirds.
(3) A blackbird is broadcasting its mellifluous song, a squirrel runs up a nearby tree and surprisingly, given that we are in central London, we can both hear a woodpecker knocking.
(4) Wednesday 2 June, afternoon I listen to the blackbird.
(5) The survey, which took place in June, showed that the blackbird is still the most frequent visitor to gardens, although it has declined slightly since last year, followed by the wood pigeon.
(6) The present work assessed the effects of changed daylength on dendritic morphology in RA in adult male red-winged blackbirds.
(7) Baby song thrushes were seen in less than 4% of gardens, compared with more than 5% last year, young blackbirds were spotted in 37% of gardens, down from 44% in 2011 and 19% of gardens had fledgling robins compared to 23% in the previous survey.
(8) Aniline p-hydroxylase, aminopyrine N-demethylase, and p-nitroanisole O-demethylase activities were measured in liver microsomes prepared from the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) and compared with analogous preparations from rat.
(9) An 852-base pair region of the cytochrome-b gene was sequenced for the brood parasitic cowbirds and 20 additional taxa of the New World blackbirds (Icterinae).
(10) The close phylogenetic relationship between blackbird, tree sparrow and starling is verified by the hemoglobin sequence.
(11) And Elliott played Blackbird and I was stunned, and I thought maybe it was just me, but after he finished playing there was a hush, and then this warm applause filled the hall.
(12) With the adults spending longer away from the nest searching for food, the chicks may also have been more exposed to the chilly, wet conditions, in particular for species like blackbirds and thrushes whose nests are open to the elements.
(13) Estimated normal bounds for each of the 18 variables measured by commonly used clinical procedures are presented for reproductively quiescent northern bobwhites, European starlings, red-winged blackbirds, and common grackles.
(14) The fact that environmental noise has widespread effects is even shown in a study of urban blackbirds that found traffic noise rather than artificial light shifted their dawn chorus to an earlier time.
(15) As for me, lacking the voice of the blackbird, I have previously sung the praises of the staff at the Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg.
(16) In Experiment 2, critical ratios in blackbirds obtained with both continuous noise and pulsed noise were compared.
(17) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dough at Four & Twenty Blackbirds.
(18) But maybe you have: maybe you’ve glanced out of the window and seen there, on the lawn, a bloody great hawk murdering a pigeon, or a blackbird, or a magpie, and it looks the hugest, most impressive piece of wildness you’ve ever seen, like someone’s tipped a snow leopard into your kitchen and you find it eating the cat.
(19) Now I can sit out in the evening and hear the blackbird singing.
(20) • 5-7 Broad Street (07879 630257, piefactorymargate.co.uk ) Blackbird Sad Stefano Dazzlingly pretty shops are popping up in Margate's old town at an increasing rate of knots, but the pick of the bunch is Blackbird, the creation of talented textile designer Maxine Sutton .
Cowbird
Definition:
(n.) The cow blackbird (Molothrus ater), an American starling. Like the European cuckoo, it builds no nest, but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds; -- so called because frequently associated with cattle.
Example Sentences:
(1) Opossums that ate the cowbirds had prepatent periods of 5 and 10 days and remained patent for at least 105 days.
(2) DCF detected antibody in most inoculated common grackles, mourning doves, and brown-headed cowbirds.
(3) It was unreliable, however, for great-tailed grackles and bronzed cowbirds inoculated intramuscularly.
(4) An 852-base pair region of the cytochrome-b gene was sequenced for the brood parasitic cowbirds and 20 additional taxa of the New World blackbirds (Icterinae).
(5) The data suggest that juvenile cowbirds possess vocalizations capable of evoking biologically relevant responses from companions early in development.
(6) Sporocysts of duck, cowbird, and grackle origin were structurally similar.
(7) The opportunity to isolate such effects arose in cowbirds (Molothrus ater ater) after discovering that males housed with non-singing female cowbirds made vocal changes which related directly to the female preferences for native song.
(8) The functional attributes of the vocalizations produced by young male cowbirds during their first fall and winter, termed "vocal precursors," were tested by playing the sounds back to female cowbirds.
(9) Androgen-implanted male cowbirds exhibited significantly reduced survival to the following year compared with either of the control groups, and also exhibited severe injuries not seen in other years.
(10) Four wild bird species--great-tailed grackle (Cassidix mexicanus), common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula), brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater), and mourning dove (Zenaidura macroura)--were either inoculated intratracheally with Chlamydia psittaci or exposed indirectly as uninoculated cagemates.
(11) Female cowbirds raised in auditory isolated from males responded to the songs of male cowbirds with copulatory postures.
(12) The birds species used were great-tailed grackles (Cassidix mexicanus), common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula), brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), bronzed cowbirds (Tangavius aeneus), and mourning doves (Zenaida macroura).
(13) Sporadic shedding of chlamydiae was demonstrated in three species (great-tailed grackle, brown-headed cowbird, and mourning dove) that were inoculated, and also in uninoculated grackles of both species exposed to inoculated great-tailed grackles.
(14) Hematocrit, furcular fat level and oviducal egg presence were determined for 267 brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) at eight sites ranging from 15 to 2390 m above sea level in California.
(15) The species has often been cited as a model of the usefullness of the construct of innate behavior, as an explanation of how young cowbirds develop species-typical behavior.
(16) Our data implicate sparrows, cowbirds, and catbirds in the amplification of EEE virus and Culiseta melanura mosquitoes as vectors among avians.
(17) Previously we stated that naive females, given extensive social experience with males from a distant cowbird subspecies, showed the same degree of preference for native song as did naive females reared with local males: extensive experience with another subspecies produced no evidence of postnatal modifiability.
(18) AGP detected antibody in all inoculated brown-headed cowbirds and all mourning doves, 1 inoculated and 1 exposed great-tailed grackle, and none of the other 2 species.
(19) An index of similarity is presented to express the species importance relationships of the helminth faunas of the 7 species of birds: red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata), brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula), house sparrows (Passer domesticus), starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), and robins (Turdus migratorius).
(20) Two studies were conducted to investigate the relation between the male cowbird's (Molothrus ater ater) development of a song repertoire and the female cowbird's assessment of song potency.