Stable Days: Flight at its highest ~ Birds!

February 03, 2011

Flight at its highest ~ Birds!

Hi Horse Pals ~

Hope you all enjoy this story on birds ...

I love to hear the birds outside my window every morning singing their songs. There are many types of birds all over the world from pigeons to swans to bald eagles to hawks!

My top three favorite birds are the bald eagle, blue jay and the cardinal bird.

Here are some fun facts about birds:

Fact #1 The egg of the hummingbird is the world's smallest bird's egg; the egg of the ostrich, the world's largest.

Fact #2 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.

Fact #3 The world's only wingless bird is the kiwi of New Zealand.

Fact #4 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.

Fact #5 A hummingbird has to fly if it wants to move an inch. Its feet are only strong enough for perching. When it takes off it doesn't spring into the air like most birds do. A moving picture of one taking off from a thin twig showed the twig rising before the bird let go.

Fact #6 An ostrich can run faster than most horses. A large ostrich will sometimes take steps twenty-five feet long.

Fact #7 There are 3 main species of ostriches of which only one, the Struthio Camelus Domesticus (the African Black), is found in captivity.

Fact #8 Hummingbirds are the tiniest birds on the planet. The Bee Hummingbird of Cuba is 2.24 inches long or 5.7 cm, and nearly half of that length is in beak and tail! But not all hummers are tiny. The Giant Hummingbird, which lives in the Andes Mountains from Ecuador to Chile, is 8 inches long—as big as a starling!

Fact #9 Woodpeckers have stiff tail feathers which act as a brace for moving along vertical tree trunks.

and Fact #10 An average adult bald eagle weighs about nine pounds and is about three feet in height and the wingspan of an eagle measures from 5.5 to 7.5 feet.