BIRDS

AMAZING FACTS ABOUT BIRDS

1.                 Bat is the only mammal that can fly.

2.                 The leg bones of a bat are so thin that bats cannot walk.

3.                 Some male songbirds sing more than 2000 times each day.

4.                 The turkey is one of the most famous birds in North America.

5.                 During World War II, Americans tried to train bats to drop bombs.

6.                 The flamingo can only eat when its head is upside down.

7.                 A group of owls is called a parliament.

8.                 The great horned owl has no sense of smell.

9.                 A woodpecker can peck 20 times per second.

10.            The ostrich has two toes on each foot which gives it greater speed.

11.            Hummingbirds beat their wings 60 to 80 times per second.

12.            A bat can eat up to 1,000 insects per hour.

13.            The average chicken lays about 260 eggs per year.

14.            Birds can recognize landmarks, which they use to help them navigate.

15.            The swan has over 25,000 feathers in its body.

16.            Ravens in captivity can learn to talk better than parrots.

17.            Flamingos are pink because shrimp is one of their main sources of food.

18.            Turkeys have a poor sense of smell, but excellent sense of taste.

19.            Penguins can jump 6 feet out of water.

20.            More than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the US at Thanksgiving.

21.            Barn owls hunt mostly small mammals such as the short-tailed vole.

22.            If you have a fear of chickens, then you actually have Alektorophobia.

23.            A ducks quack does echo, it’s just almost impossible to hear.

24.            Noctule bats fly before sunset, whereas Pipistrelles appear soon after sunset.

25.            Many species of owls have special feathers for flying silently.

26.            The owl has a small brain.

27.            The lifespan of 75% of wild birds is 6 months.

28.            “National Dance Like A Chicken Day” falls on 14^th May every year.

29.            Female bald eagles are 25% larger than males.

30.            Heron’s eggs have a greenish-blue pale color.

31.            There is no visual difference between male and female herons.

32.            The swan has over 25,000 feathers on its body.

33.            Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards.

34.            Rooster is simply a male chicken.

35.            The bend in a flamingo's leg isn't a knee—it's an ankle.

36.            In Japan there are cafes where you can hang out with owls.

37.            The bird, the Common Swift, can stay in the air for up to 10 months without landing. They can even sleep while flying.

38.            Hedwig, Harry Potter’s owl, is named after the patron saint of orphaned and abandoned children.

39.            The yolk of a flamingo’s egg is pink.

40.            Owls make almost no noise from flying, even when tested in a room with multiple microphones.

41.            Australia was once home to a flightless bird known as the Demon-Duck of Doom.

42.            Feeding canaries red peppers turns them orange.

43.            There are over 9,500 species of birds in the world. Scientists typically group them into 30 categories. Birds are the most widespread of all animals around the world.

44.            Birds have feathers, wings, lay eggs and are warm blooded.

45.            There are around 10000 different species of birds worldwide.

46.            The Ostrich is the largest bird in the world. It also lays the largest eggs and has the fastest maximum running speed (97 kph).

47.            Birds have hollow bones which help them fly.

48.            Some bird species are intelligent enough to create and use tools.

49.            The chicken is the most common species of bird found in the world.

50.            Kiwis are endangered, flightless birds that live in New Zealand. They lay the largest eggs relative to their body size of any bird in the world.

51.            Hummingbirds can fly backwards.

52.            The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest living bird in the world, with a length of just 5 cm (2 in).

53.            Around 20% of bird species migrate long distances every year.

54.            Homing pigeons are bred to find their way home from long distances away and have been used for thousands of years to carry messages.

55.            The only bird with nostrils at the end of its beak is the kiwi.

56.            Unlike most birds that sing, a woodpecker will drum its beak against a tree. Other woodpeckers can identify which bird it is by the sound of the drumming.

57.            A green woodpecker can eat as many as 2,000 ants per day.

58.            The fastest flying bird in a dive is the Peregrine Falcon. It averages speeds of over 110 mph (180 kph).

59.            The Sooty Tern spends more time in the air than any other bird. It takes off over the ocean and flies for at least 3 years without settling on water or land.

60.            An albatross can soar for as long as six hours without moving its wings.

61.            The Bald Eagle builds the largest tree nest of all birds.

62.            The game Angry Birds has sold more than 7 million copies on Apple’s iphone. The game was made by a team of just four people. It was such a low priority for the company that it took over 8 months to finish.

63.            Vultures have stomach acid so corrosive that they can digest carcasses infected with anthrax.

64.            Ravens are great at mimicking human speech and sounds.

65.            Some ducks sleep with one eye open.

66.            Most hummingbirds weigh less than a nickel.

67.            In ancient Greece, pigeons delivered the results of the Olympic Games.

68.            The penguin is the only bird that can swim, but not fly. It is also the only bird that walks upright.

69.            The first bird domesticated by humans was the goose.

70.            The Royal Albatross' eggs take 79 days to hatch.