Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve covering 4945 ha, 134 species of birds from 14 orders (Ciconiiformes, Anseriformes, Falconiformes, Galliformes, Gruiformes, Charadriiformes, Columbiformes, Cuculiformes, Strigiformes, Caprimulgiformes, Apodiformes, Coraciiformes, Piciformes, Passeriformes) had been registered by 1991. Later 5 more species were observed here. Thus, by the present time, the list of species of birds registered in the Reserve numbers 139 species. About 55% from them are Passerines. Most of birds of the Reserve belong to migratory breeding species or to nomadic breeding species. Some species are vagrants in the Reserve and in the Moscow Region (nutcracker Nicifraga caryocatactes (L.), etc.). Birds, nesting in central parts of Russia
Origin of birds Origin of birds The scientific question of within which larger group of animals birds evolved, has traditionally been called the origin of birds. The present scientific consensus is that birds are a group of theropod dinosaurs that originated during the Mesozoic Era. A close relationship between birds and dinosaurs was first proposed in the nineteenth century after the discovery of the primitive bird "Archaeopteryx" in Germany. Birds and extinct non-avian dinosaurs share many unique skeletal traits. Moreover, fossils of more than thirty species of non-avian dinosaur have been collected with preserved feathers. There are even very small dinosaurs, such as