Interesting Fact about Birds

–by Shivangi Dixit Shukla

–Reading Time – 15 min Approx

With more than 10,000 species in the world, different birds are decorated with colourful feathers and their ability to fly makes them different from other animals. Birds are said to be cold-blooded animals. They are more related to reptiles than to mammals. Colouring our world with beauty, birds are a unique treasure for our environment. The Impact of mankind on birds has made approximately 80 species of birds go extinct since 1680 and many remaining species are in danger. There are lots of interesting facts about birds that make them unique.

All the species of birds are distributed all over the seven continents and most terrestrial habitat. Many species of birds are important to humankind for food and raw material for manufacturing purposes. Birds have a unique digestive system that allows them to eat while they fly and digest it later. The way in which birds reproduce is also related to flying. Instead of carrying the extra weight, they lay eggs. According to fossil records, birds have evolved since the Jurassic period, i.e. since 160 million years ago, alongside dinosaurs. In this article, you will find a lot of interesting facts about birds.

A few most Interesting Fact about Birds:

With so many variations in the species of birds, if we look deeper into them, we will come across some mind blowing facts about birds. In this article, we will be mentioning a few interesting facts about birds. Read on to increase your general knowledge regarding these aerial creatures.

Largest and the smallest bird:

One of the fun facts about birds flying is that just like chemistry, there are exceptions here too. Some birds cannot fly, one of them being the ostrich, the largest bird that can reach the height of 2.7 meters and a wingspan of about 2 meters, which is very impressive for a bird that cannot fly. Ostrich lays the largest egg among birds, weighing up to 1.5 kg. The smallest bird is the bee hummingbird which measures up to 5.5 cm long and weighs up to 1.9 grams. This bird lays the smallest bird eggs which are almost pea-sized.

Oldest bird:

An exotic bird fact is that the oldest bird known to mankind is the archaeopteryx. The magnificent bird was the size of a raven; it lived for about 150 million years before going extinct during the Jurassic period.

Roadrunners are real:

Remember watching the cartoon roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote? Well, let me break one of the top ten amazing facts about birds to you. Our favorite character road runner is very real and can be found in the desert of South America. These birds can hardly fly but know how to run.

Poisonous bird:

Did you know that just like snakes, there is also a poisonous bird? A mention-worthy point among the 10 amazing facts about birds is that there is a species of poisonous birds found in the native of Papua New Guinea.  These are beautiful bright coloured and omnivorous. Most of their poisons are on their feather and skin. This helps them to protect themselves from prey. The poison in these birds is because of what they eat. These birds usually feed on poisonous beetles and vertebrates. According to the locals, these birds are not considered good for eating.

The chatterbox parrots:

When we are talking about amazing facts about birds and animals, parrots deserve to be mentioned. Parrots are given the name of chatterbox due to the chatty nature of this species. These birds can learn on an average f up to 200 words. Their real name is Indian ringneck parrot or Indian ringneck parakeets. These are extremely popular pets known for their intelligence and ability to learn.

Bird with nostril:

If you want to know everything about birds, you must also know about the bird that has a nostril at the end of its beak, yes, we are talking about Kiwi. It helps to sniff the food from the ground such as worms and insects. Sometimes these birds also snort to clears their nostril.

Flamingo:

Flamingos are considered to be powerful swimmers, even though they rarely swim and are often seen waddling around. Many flamingos migrate regularly for the best food sources and nesting grounds. These birds are found in several places, from South America to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Caribbean. A flamingo chick is born grey and white, it takes up to three years to mature and reach its pink colour. There are only 6 species of flamingos all around the world.

Smart birds:

We have heard about the intelligence of dolphins and the cleverness of foxes. When we talk about the smartest animal, we may consider dogs and cats over birds, reptiles, and insects. However, birds are the smartest creatures in the world. They can adapt comparatively easily to new conditions and environments. For example, crows are intelligent as they can solve complex problems, can count to five, and can remember faces. This phenomenon is observed by researchers by taking scans from their brains. They can figure out people who are friendly, dangerous and memorize their faces.

Another type of bird that is considered as the cleverest is the Kea. Kea, originating from New Zealand, is a type of parrot. One study revealed that kea, apart from being friendly and notorious, are also amazing in doing teamwork. These birds have outscored gibbons and apes on some intelligent tests. They have a reputation for destroying cars and troubling people.

Cockatoos are birds that belong to the family of parrots and are more intelligent than that of a four-year-old. Researchers have revealed that these birds tend to imitate the sound and words they hear. Studies reveal that cockatoos can figure out hidden objects, if you place the same object elsewhere these birds could recognize the object.

Ravens are also considered one of the intelligent birds. These birds can work in teams. Ravens can plan the future and they keep tools that they consider beneficial. Ravens have a unique way of calling other ravens and they can recognize each other after years of separation. They have an excellent memory.

Magpies are birds that are self-aware. An experiment called the Mirror Test was conducted on these birds. These are the only birds that have passed these tests. In the test, a mark or sticker is put where the bird can’t see them, and then they are made to stand in front of the mirror; if they scratch it they are self-aware. The Eurasian magpies successfully passed this test.

Owls:

Among the 200 species of owls, the most found species are the great horned owl, usually originating in North and South America. Blackstone’s fish owls are considered to be the rarest owl and are found in Russia, China, and Japan. Interesting facts about owls is that they can turn their head around 270 degrees. The barred owl can turn its head around 270 degrees in each direction. Another interesting fact about owls is that they can easily blend into their surroundings. This ability of owls helps them in protecting themselves from danger. They can also make themselves smaller and larger according to their surroundings so that they can fit in.  Some cultures regard owls as an omen of death. In Kenya and Mexico, owls represent death, magic, and darkness.

As interesting is the fact that owls can move their head 270 degrees, they cannot move their eyeball, because they are tabular in shape. Due to their head moving 270 degrees they have a clear vision of 360-degrees.

Birds use infrasound to sense weather:

The sounds that are below 20 Hz are called infrasound.  These sounds can be heard by animals, from whales to alligators, and pigeons. Volcanic eruptions, storms, supersonic aircraft are all sources of infrasound. Migratory birds rely on these sounds to avoid storms when they migrate. In a study led by UC Berkeley researchers in 2014, it was found that golden-winged warblers who were nesting in Tennessee evacuated from there and headed towards the Gulf of Mexico, a day before or two when a supercell storm arrived. When they left the storm was 250 – 300 miles away. As soon as the storm was over the birds returned to their place of breeding. This incident is one of the explanations that birds can sense weather.

Fastest bird:

The fastest bird on Earth is the Peregrine Falcon. When these birds are hunting, they have a maximum recorded airspeed of 384 km per hour. The fastest bird when flying has a maximum recorded airspeed of 106 km per hour.

Sensing the weather:

Birds can sense the arrival of winter by observing the changes in their hormones which cause them to put fat. The changing of air pressure is another important factor and the changes in the length of days are also included among the factors that help the bird sense the changes in the weather.

Slowest flying bird:

The slowest flying bird is the American Woodcock. It can fly at just 5 miles per hour. When hummingbirds hover, they move 0 meter per hour.

Conclusion:

These were a few interesting facts about birds. Their beautiful feather and ability to fly make them stand out from other animals. Feathers of birds are much more important than just helping them fly, it also keeps them warm. The colour of feathers helps the birds to hide or find other birds.  From finding food to finding mates, birds are the smartest of all animals. They are considered to be a good friend to humans apart from dogs and cats, explaining why so many of us have birds as pets.

–by Shivangi Dixit Shukla