Facts about Birds
Senses of sight, smell, and hearing are remarkably acute in birds. This is especially true of sight. Some have three eye lids, the upper and lower and a membrane which can be drawn over the entire eye-ball, called the nictitating membrane, enabling them to look directly at the sun. Eagles, Hawks, and Owls are thus provided. The eyes of the Eagles and Hawks are provided also with a ring of bony plates, by means of which the eye adjusts itself like a telescope, taking in both near and far objects. Birds, except nocturnal species, have no external ear, but hear well. The young of nest building birds when born are blind, naked, and unable to walk. In the Hen, the Partridge, and the Ducks, the young are able to walk, swim, or pick up food, as soon as they break the shell. When moulting, at the close of the breeding season, Quails usually shed in pairs. The male generally assumes a duller hued coat than the female. With most birds of prey the female is the larger. Bird’s songs are composed of love-notes and pleasure-notes. We speak of the scream of birds, their chirp, expressions of joy or fear, as in the human voice. Their songs can be set to music. See S. P. Cheney’s “Wood Notes Wild,” in which the songs of many of our common birds are thus reproduced. The odd and peculiar actions of birds, their dances, struts, and posturings are all expressions of their emotions. The nesting habits of birds are varied. Gulls drop eggs on bare ground or rocks; the Baltimore Oriole and Tailor bird construct hanging nests of elaborate workmanship; the Woodpecker hews out a deep nest in a rotten limb; the Kingfisher digs one out of a sandy bank, while the Cuckoo takes possession of the nest of some other bird. Most birds select nesting places away from other species, but Swallows, English Sparrows, Grackles, and Crows live in communities. There are between seven and eight thousand species of living birds. A few species have become extinct, specimens of which it is the intention of BIRDS to present in future numbers. There are three centers of distribution in the United States: (1) the Atlantic states and Mississippi valley; (2) the Rocky Mountain plateau; (3) the Pacific coast. Most of the birds breeding in the northern portions of the United States migrate south during the winter months. Those remaining are known as residents. The oldest bird was known as an Archaeopteryx and lived about 150 million years ago. It was the size of a raven, was covered with feathers, and had wings. The most yolks ever found in a single chicken's egg is nine. An ostrich egg needs to be boiled for 2 hours to get a hard-boiled egg. The Royal Albatross' eggs take 79 days to hatch. The egg of the hummingbird is the world's smallest bird's egg; the egg of the ostrich, the world's largest. Would you believe that the now-extinct elephant bird of Madagascar laid an egg that weighed 27 pounds. Precocial birds like chickens, ostriches, ducks, and seagulls hatch ready to move around. They come from eggs with bigger yolks than altricial birds like owls, woodpeckers, and most small songbirds that need a lot of care from parents in order to survive. Air sacs may make up 1/5 of the body volume of a bird. A bird's normal body temperature is usually 7-8 degrees hotter than a human's. Up to three-quarters of the air a bird breathes is used just for cooling down since they are unable to sweat. A bird's heart beats 400 times per minute while resting and up to 1000 beats per minute while flying. The world's only wingless bird is the kiwi of New Zealand. Migrating ducks and geese often fly in V-shape formations. Each bird flies in the upwash of its neighbor's beating wings and this extra bit of supporting wind increases lift, thereby saving energy. Pigeons can reach speeds up to 100 mph. Swifts, doves, falcons, and sandpipers can approach 200 mph. Penguins, ostriches, and dodo birds are all birds that do not fly. Hummingbirds eat about every ten minutes, slurping down twice their body weight in nectar every day. The homing pigeon, Cher Ami, lost an eye and a leg while carrying a message in World War I. Cher Ami won the Distinguished Service Cross. Its leg was replaced with a wooden leg. The only known poisonous bird in the world is the hooded pitohui of Papua, New Guinea. The poison is found in its skin and feathers. The American turkey vulture helps human engineers detect cracked or broken underground fuel pipes. The leaking fuel smells like vulture food (they eat carrion), and the clustered birds show repair people where the lines need fixing. |
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