Other Birds Facts



  1. Over 100 million birds die annually by crashing into glass windows in the United States.
  2. Kiwis are the only known bird to have nostrils located at the tip of their beak.
  3. In the United States birds and planes collided more than 22,000 times between the years of 1990 and 1998.
  4. In the Middle Ages, peacocks and swans were sometimes served at Christmas dinners.
  5. In order to scare away predators, Giant petrels, a type of seabird, throw up all over the intruder.
  6. The Arctic Tern, which is a small bird, can fly a round trip from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back. This can be as long as twenty thousand miles per year. This is the longest migration for a bird.
  7. The American Kestrel hawk weighs only four ounces.
  8. Storks were a symbol of fertility in Europe and were considered to bring good luck.
  9. Some birds have been know to put ants into their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid, which kills parasites.
  10. Pigeons can see ultraviolet lights.
  11. In 1681, the last dodo bird died.
  12. Flamingos are able to fly at a speed of approximately 55 kilometers an hour. In one night they can travel about 600 km.
  13. Blue Jays can imitate the calls of hawks.
  14. Birds do not sweat, as they do not have sweat glands.
  15. A seagull can drink salt water because it has special glands that filter out the salt.
  16. A peregrine falcon can reach speeds up to 200 miles per hour.
  17. Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day!
  18. The scarlet tanager, a songbird native to Illinois, can eat as many as 2,100 gypsy-moth caterpillars in one hour.
  19. The oldest bird on record was Cocky, a cockatoo, who died in the London Zoo at the age of 82.
  20. The highest flight by a bird was by a Ruppell's vulture at 37,000 feet. The bird hit a plane at this height.
  21. The fastest bird in the world is the Peregrine Falcon, which can reach speeds in excess of two hundred miles per hour.
  22. There are an estimated 2,500 collisions between birds and planes each year in the US.
  23. The flying fox of Africa has a wingspan of fifty inches!
  24. Birds save energy by flying in a "V" formation.
  25. The largest bird egg ever laid was laid millions of years ago by the Madagascar, or the elephant bird.
  26. Wild Flamingos are pink because they consume vast quantities of algae and brine shrimp.
  27. Whooping cranes are born with blue eyes that change to bright gold by the time they six months old.
  28. Blue jays often forget where they hide winter supplies of food.
  29. Sometimes birds show anger towards humans by taking out its feelings on other birds nearby, because they are too afraid to attack humans.
  30. The Egyptian vulture uses stones to smash ostrich eggs.
  31. Vultures can soar for hours without one beat of their wings.
  32. The dipper bird builds nests behind waterfalls for protection.
  33. When two lovebirds appear to be kissing, they are actually grooming each other with their bills to keep clean and neat.
  34. The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon. It can fly at a speed of 168-217 miles per hour.
  35. A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second.
  36. There are about 100 billion birds in the world, and about 6 billion of them make their homes in the United States.
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