Arabic words for “bird” include طير (tayr), which is most common and is a generic word. The word عصفور (asfuur) refers to a small bird, such as a house sparrow (عصفور دوري) or in describing such birds as the canary. Canary - Pet Care Guide (uses the word عصفور in describing the canary)
This video, with a song and pictures of various birds, is about عصفور:
In December, scientists announced the discovery of fossils of a species believed to be the ancestor of the whale. It is a deer-like creature, the size of a raccoon, that lived in the Kashmir region. The discovery was reported in numerous news articles, including BBC News:
The title of this article begins with the phrase “scientific discovery” (كتشاف علمي). This is an example of how adjectives are used. Adjectives follow the noun that they describe or modify. In this case, the noun is إكتشاف (iktashafa) - discovery. The adjective is علمي (a’lmee) - scientific, which is a variation of the word علم (a’lm) - science. Turning nouns such as “science” into adjectives (”scientific”) is a nisba (relative noun). Forming a nisba involves adding ي (ee) for nouns ending in a consonant.
Other words in the title here include:
حيوان (hayawan) - animal
اصل (asl) - original
حوت (huut) - whale
شبه (shibh) - resemblance; شابه (shabaha) - resemble
غزال (ghazal) - gazelle
The title of the article translates as “scientific discovery: origins of the whale, an animal resembling the gazelle”.
I am studying Arabic at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, and will be in Egypt in the summer. This site covers Arabic grammar, vocabulary, and other aspects of the Arabic language, and makes frequent use of YouTube videos, news, and other Arabic language resources on the Internet.