Some Top Facts of Colourful Birds !

Facts of Colourful Birds

Approximately 2/3 of all the bird species are found in tropical rain forests._[1]

Hoatzin chicks have two claws on each wing. When they climb out of the nest, they use their claws to hold on to mangrove trees. They lose their claws once they mature, but they remain poor flyers._[10]

The longest feathers ever seen were on a chicken in Japan. Its tail feathers measured 34.7 feet (10.59 m) long._[17]

To make them more lightweight, most birds do not have bladders to store urine. Rather than producing liquid urine to get rid of wastes, they produce a white, pasty substance. However, while an ostrich does not have a bladder like a mammalian bladder, it is unique among birds because it does have a complete separation of feces and urine._[1]

Birds crystallize their urine and excrete it, along with feces, out their cloacas

A bird’s lungs are much more complicated and efficient and take up more space than those of mammals, such as humans. A human’s lungs compose about 1/20 of its body, but a bird’s takes up 1/5._[15]

The Australian pelican has the longest bill of any bird in the world. It is nearly 2 feet (0.5 m) in length. The sword-billed hummingbird, with its 3.9-inch (10 cm) bill, is the only bird with a bill that’s longer than its body._[10]

Owls cannot swivel their eyes. Instead they move their heads completely around to see straight behind them. They live on every continent except Antarctica. Soft fringes on their wings make their flight essentially silent._[1]

Famous birds include Ba in Egyptian mythology, Bar Juchne in the Talmud, The Cu Bird in Mexican folklore, the Firebird in Native American mythologies, Harpies in Greek mythology, the Phoenix in Egyptian mythology, Quetzalcoatl in Aztec mythology, and the Raven in Native American religions._[17]

_{Birds don’t fall off of a branch when they sleep because their toes automatically clench around the twig they are standing on. Because the grabbing action is done by tendons rather than muscles, the birds can sleep without danger of falling.[17]}

_{The wishbone (or “merrythought” bone) is a bird’s fused collarbone. The strongest fliers have the widest angles in their wishbones. They are the only vertebrate animals to have a fused collarbone.[15]}

_{Not all birds have equally hollow bones. Those that dive into water—like gannets, terns, and kingfishers—and those that fly very fast, like swifts, have less air in their long bones than other birds.[15]}

_{The linear flight formations of migratory birds are called echelons, with the most common shapes being the “V” or the “J.” In fact, a true V-shaped formation is less common than a J formation. Birds fly in formation a) because it saves energy and b) to facilitate orientation and communication among the birds.[17]}

_{The word "parakeet" literally means "long tail."[14]}

_{An albatross can soar for as long as six hours without moving its wings.[1]}

_{The heaviest bird in the air is the Kori Bustard, from East and South Africa. It weighs about 31 lb. (14 kg.), with the largest on recorded being 40 lb. (18 kg.). Because it is such hard work to fly, it flies only in emergencies and for only short distances.[15]}

_{A Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which weighs less than 0.2 oz., has to beat its wings more than 52 times a second to hover in front of a flower.[17]}

_{What keeps a bird up in the air is the shape of its wings. The first humans to discover how birds stay aloft were Australian Aborigines when they invented the boomerang.[17]}

_REFERENCES

_{1 Burnie, David. 2008. Bird. New York, NY: DK Publishing.}

_{2 Castro, Joseph. "Grudge-Holding Crows Pass on Their Anger to Family and Friends." Discover. June 30, 2011. Accessed: October 20 2019.}

_{3 Chakraborty, Barnini. “Feds Look Other Way as Wind Farms Kill Birds? But Haul Oil and Gas Firms to Court.” Fox News. December 17, 2012. Accessed: March 22, 2013.}

_{4 Cota-Larson, Rhishja. "16 Things You May Not Know about Vultures." Annamiticus. August 27, 2012.&n}

_{5 "Esmeraldas Woodstar." Center for Biological Diversity. Accessed: September 7, 2019.}

_{6 "Falcon." Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed: January 5, 2017.}

_{7 "Fear of Ducks Phobia – Anatidaephobia." FearOf.Net. Accessed: December 26, 2016.}

_{8 Jacabo, Julia. "Two-thirds of birds in North America at risk of extinction due to climate change." October 10, 2019. Accessed: October 15, 2019.}

_{9 Mayell, Hillary. “Evolutionary Oddities: Duck Sex Organ, Lizard Tongue.” National Geographic. October 23, 2001. Accessed: March 22, 2013.}

_{10 Miller, Sara Swan. 2001. Bizarre Birds. New York, NY: Watts Library.}

_{11 Molly, Mark. "The Ultimate True Or False Quiz: Scientific Fact Or Fiction?" The Telegraph. April 22, 2016. Accessed: December 6, 2016.}

_{12 Munford, Monty. “Angry Birds: 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know.” The Telegraph. October 12, 2010. Accessed: March 22, 2013.}

_{13 Netter, Sarah. “Birds Hit Planes Every Day, but Don’t Usually Cause Crashes.” ABC News. January 15, 2009. Accessed: March 22, 2013.}

_{14 "Parakeet." Petco. Accessed: July 23, 2018.}

_{15 Penny, Malcolm. 2000. Birds: Over 100 Questions and Answers to Things You Want to Know. Suffolk, UK: Dempsey Parr.}

_{16 Raasch, Chuck. “Cats Kill Up to 3.7B Birds Annually.” USA Today. January 30, 2013. Accessed: March 22, 2013}

_{17 Snedden, Robert. 2008. Birds (Living Things). North Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media.}

_{18 "Swan." Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed: August 7, 2019.}

_{19 “The Birds (1963).” IMBD. Accessed: March 22, 2013.}

_{20 “Woodpeckers.” Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2002. Accessed: March 22, 2013.}