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BIRDS!!
! All you need to know about this fascinating animal kingdom! Index Fun Facts Guiness World Records What are Birds? Ornithology and Ornithologists Rare Bird Species Renowned Bird Sanctuaries of India
Fun Facts Hummingbirds can see ultraviolet light! Some house birds enjoy listening to music genres like classical or rock, but rarely like pop or rap songs!!
Birds eat up to 550 million
tons of insects per year!
Ravens can learn to mimic
human speech, a car engine, and the sound of a toilet flush!
Birds clean their beaks
after eating!
The hooded pitohui(pi-to-HU-
ee) has poisonous feathers.
Guiness World Records
World Record Bird Name Picture Largest Ostrich (2.8 m tall) Smallest Bee hummingbird(5.5 cm) Heaviest Ostrich
Lightest Bee hummingbird Weirdest Shoebill looking Cutest Peach Faced Lovebird Most Cassowary dangerous What are Birds?? Birds are warm blooded vertebrates who make up the group Aves(ay-VEEZ). Birds are characterized by the laying of hard- shelled eggs, the possession of feathers, their strong yet light hollow skeletons, toothless beaked jaws, their four- chambered heart and their high metabolic1 rate. They live worldwide and 1 range from the 5 2 cm bee hummingbird to the 2.8-metre-tall common ostrich. There are over 11,000 species of bird alive today. More than half of these are passerine2 or perching birds. The development of bird wings HOW??? varies according to the bird species. The only known wingless birds are the now-extinct moa and the elephant bird. Wings are modified forelimbs that give birds the ability to fly, but further evolution has led to the loss of flight in birds like penguins and ostriches 3. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are uniquely adapted for flying. Some seabirds, like seagulls, have further evolved for swimming. Birds are the only dinosaurs alive today. Their closest living relatives are the crocodilians 4.
Many social bird species preserve knowledge across
generations. Birds are social animals, communicating through visual signals, calls, and songs. They participate in social activities like cooperative breeding5, hunting, flocking, and mobbing6 predators.
1 Metabolism is the conversion of food into energy by living organisms. 2 Passerine means that the bird has three toes at the front of its feet and one at the back. This helps in perching on a branch. 3 As a result, they have smaller wings than other birds. These wings are redundant. 4 Crocodiles. 5 That means the whole society raises the kids. 6 An anti-predator strategy that involves the targeted flock harassing the predator. Many species of birds are economically important to certain countries. For example, chickens are economically important for food, songbirds are extremely popular as pets, guano 7 is sold as fertilizer, and recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism in many countries. Birds have mention in the mythologies of many countries. For example, the symbol of Athena was a little owl, two ravens used to whisper news in the ears of the Norse god Odin, and the vehicles of multiple Hindu gods were birds.
Ornithology and Ornithologists
Ornithology is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of birds. Studies on birds have helped develop key concepts in biology including evolution, behaviour, and ecology such as the definition of species, the instincts of birds, learning, conservation etc. One of the most important and famous ornithologists is Dr Salim Ali also known as the Bird Man of India. Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali (12 November 1896 – 20 June 1987) was an Indian ornithologist. Sometimes referred to as the "Birdman of India", Salim Ali was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across India and wrote several bird books that popularized ornithology in India. He became a key figure behind the 7 Seabird poop. Bombay Natural History Society after 1947 and used his personal influence to get government support for the organisation, create the Bharatpur bird sanctuary (Keoladeo National Park) and prevent the destruction of what is now the Silent Valley National Park. His ornithologist’s journey begun as a child when he shot an unusually coloured sparrow with his toy air gun. Puzzled as to its identity, he took it to the Bombay National History Society, where secretary W.S. Millard identified it as a yellow- throated sparrow. Millard lent 10-year-old Salim a few books including Eha8’s Common Birds of Bombay and showed him the society’s collection of stuffed birds. Salim noted later in his autobiography, The Fall of a Sparrow, that shooting the male yellow-throated sparrow was a turning point in his life.
Some Rare Bird Species
8 Edward Hamilton Aitken’s pen name 1. The Black Robin of Chatham Island The black robin or Chatham Island robin is an endangered bird from the Chatham Island off the east coast of New Zealand. It is a vulnerable species9. It is closely related to the South Island robin. It was first described by Walter Buller in 1872. Its ability to fly is limited. Evolution in the absence of mammal predators made it vulnerable to cats and rats. The whole species survived thanks to one female called Old Blue, who lived for 13 years, a long time10. All the black robins alive today are descended from Old Blue and a male, Old Yellow.11
2. Kakapo Parrot The kakapo, sometimes known as the owl parrot or owl-faced parrot, is a species of large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot. It is endemic to New Zealand.
Kakapo can be up to 64 cm (25 in) long. They have a combination of
unique traits among parrots: finely blotched yellow-green plumage, a distinct facial disc, owl-style forward-facing eyes with surrounding discs of specially-textured feathers, a large grey beak, short legs, large blue feet, relatively short wings, and a short tail. It is the world's only flightless parrot, the world's heaviest parrot, has a low basal metabolic rate 12, and does not have male parental care.
Some Renowned Bird
Sanctuaries in India 9 It could be threatened with extinction unless we do something about it 10 These robins’ average lifespan is 2 years 11 The two robins in Birdwatcher? 12 It means metabolic rate at rest. 1. Keoladeo National Park/Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary Keoladeo National Park, or Keoladeo Ghana National Park, is a national park in Rajasthan. It hosts thousands of migratory, resident, and native birds. The bird numbers increase in winter, when many bird species fly to the Indian subcontinent to escape winter in Eurasia. At least 400 bird species have been noted or observed in Keoladeo. It was declared protected in 1971 and established as a national park on 10 March 1982. Due to its biodiversity in birds, it was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1985 It covers an area of 29 km sq. and is locally called Ghana It has a manmade regulated wetland which provide hydration for the birds in the arid summers of India. 2. Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary (also known as Pakshi Kashi of Karnataka), is a bird sanctuary in the Mandya District of Karnataka. It is the largest bird sanctuary in the state, 40 acres in area, and comprises six islets on the banks of the Kaveri River. The sanctuary has been designated on 15 February 2022 as a protected Ramsar site since 2022. Ranganathittu is located 3 km from the historic town of Seringapatam and 16 km north of Mysore. The sanctuary attracted about 3 lakh visitors during 2016–17.
