Life Cycle of Birds – Imaluop

Basic Information About Birds: 

Birds are flying vertebrates for their modified fore limb and they are able maintain their internal body temperature in changing external environmental temperature so they are warm blooded. In the life cycle of birds we will discuss how the life cycle of a bird starts from a unicellular egg and then how they show their parental care to the hatchling and how they become adult from their juvenile stage. 

Different Stages in Life Cycle of Birds: 

Eggs Stage: 

The female bird lays one to more than one egg and their lifecycle starts from the eggs which have a hard generally calcareous shell to protect the bird embryo from external environment.

The hard shell may be whitish, yellowish or sometimes different colours and the numbers of eggs the female birds vary from species to species. After laying eggs, parent birds incubate the eggs for development of the bird’s embryo inside the eggs but in poultry farms it can be performed by using special machinery which incubates the eggs for development of the bird’s embryo.

Inside the eggs the bird embryo develops and gets nourishment from the yolk present inside the eggs and when they develop much enough to come outside of the eggs, then they come outside of the eggs shell by breaking the hard shell of the eggs.

During the development of the embryo inside the eggs a hard bony structure is formed on the beak of the developing birds which is known as eggs tooth and the egg teeth is used to break the hard shell of the eggs during hatching.  

Hatchling Stage:  

After hatching the dependent stage of a young bird is called hatchling and their body is covered by soft feathers but in the hatchling stage they can not fly, it needs some time to develop their wings properly and then they learn to fly slowly.

But during this time period they are unable to protect themselves so patients take care of the hatchling until they can fly and are able to search for their own food. Many predators try to feed the hatchlings because the young birds are not able to fly so the parents build nests in a secure place to give protection against the predators and feed them.  

Nestling Stage: 

Until the young birds learn to fly properly the parents care for them in their nest and bring food for their baby bird and this stage of the life cycle of a bird is known as nestling. With time the birds grow much for flying and they learn flying, once they learn flying but not properly then they are known as fledgling birds.  

Fledgling Stage: 

In the fledgling stage birds can fly but they do not become expert in flying as the adult birds so still they need to be supervised by their parents. In the fledgling stage the young birds fly and come back to nest and during this time period their flying muscles become more developed and the feathers also grow to give them complete insulation and buoyancy to fly very fast. 

Juvenile Stage: 

When their flight muscles become fully functional and developed then they can fly properly and then they become independent of their parents’ birds so they leave their parents’ nest home.

But during this stage they are not mature enough to breed, their body is covered by soft feathers and they can search and find their own food but more time is required for their maturation for reproduction.  

Sub Adult Stage: 

After juvenile stage they can fly like adult birds but their feather is still soft which is known as first plumage and the feathers replaced by adult feather then the plumage is called adult plumage.

To become reproductively mature, different bird species take different times, in some cases they become reproductive in the sub adult stage while in some species they need more time to become mature for reproduction.  

Adult Stage: 

With time birds cross the sub adult stage and reach to adult stage when their first plumage is completely replaced by the adult plumage and they become fully mature to reproduce and lay eggs to continue their life cycle again. 

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