SOME FACT ABOUT BIRDS

 

BIRDS FACT

We all like birds some are they using like pets and some other people haunting birds.Two types of birds are here. first one is flying birds and another one is non flying birds.There are another group of flying birds here flying mammals.

As we all know  birds are vertebrate animalswith two legs and front limbs that they have become adapted to from wings.All birds have feathers and most but not all can fly .Birds reproduce by laying eggs which their young hatch.I mentioned the following of largest flying birds and they are weight and wingspan and Largest flighless birds .

LARGEST FLYING BIRDS

              Bird   -  Wingspan (m) - Weight (kg)

1.Great bustard          -   2.7     -  20.9

2.Trumpeter swan      -   3.4     -   16.8

3. Mute swan               -   3.1     -   16.3

4. Albatross                  -   3.7    -    15.8

5. Whooper swan         -   3.1    -   15.8

6. Manchurian crane   -   2.1    -   14.9

7. Kori bustard            -    2.7    -   13.6

LARGEST FLIGHTLESS BIRDS

       Bird - Height (m) - Weight (kg)

1. Ostrich          -   2.74    - 156.5

2. Emu               -   1.52    -  40.0

3. Cassowary     -   1.52    -  33.5

4. Rhea               -   1.37    -  25.0

5. Emperor 

    penguin          -  1.14     -   29.4

SMALLEST BIRD

The smallest bird in the world is bee hummingbird.

Which is 5.7cm long and weight is 1.6gm.

LONGEST BEAK 

The bird with the longest beak in relation to its body length is the 

sword - billed hummingbird .It's beak measures is 10.5cm and 

the birds body is only 13.5cm long. The bird with the longest 

beak of all is the Australian pelican .It's beak measures is 47cm.

HIGHEST FLYER

Worlds most highest flyer bird is Ruppells griffon .In 1973 one 

was recorded at 11,278m above sea level - 2427m higher 

than Mount Everest -after colliding with an airliner.

LONGEST MIGRATION

The arctic tern migrates further than any other bird .

Every year it flies from the arctic to Antarctica 

and back again .A round trip of atleast 40,000km.

ALL ABOUT FEATHERS

Feathers are made of keratin the same material 

as our hair and nails. The body of a feather is called it's vane.

The shaft is known as the rachis and the individual tufts 

are known as barbs.The barbs have hooks called barbules 

that cling to the others like Velcro.

Birds shed their feathers at intervals and grow new ones. 

This process is called moulting .Feathers fall in a set 

pattern and in pairs one from each side so that the birds 

flight is not unbalanced.

Birds that do not fly such as penguins,moult all over.

A song bird such as a sparrow has about 3000 feathers 

in the summer but as many as 3500 in the winter to 

keep it warm.A chicken has about 9000 feathers and a 

swan may have 25,216 or more up to 20,000 of them on its head and neck.

The bird with the fewest feathers is the ruby throated humming bird with only 940.

BIRDS EGG

The biggest ostrich eggs weight as much as 2.35kg but 

they are not the largest eggs of all time.The extinct 

elephant bird Aepyornis maximus of Madagascar laid 

eggs that were up to 33cm long and contained 8.88 litres of liquid.

This is larger than the eggs of any dinosaur ,seven time 

bigger than an ostrich egg,180 times bigger than a 

chicken egg and over 20,000 times the size of a humming birds egg.

I mentioned below the bird name and average weight of their egg.

Bird                  Avg.Weight of egg(gm)

1. Ostrich                               1600

2.Albatros                                 595

3. Kiwi                                       450

4. Emperor pen                         450

5. Mute swan                             350

6. Little spotted kiwi                 310

7. Eagle                                       145

8. Snowy owl                                83

9. Domestic hen                            65

10. Mallard                                   54

11. Sparrow                                  3.0

FLYING MAMMALS

Bats are the only mammals capable of true flight.

They belong to the order Chiroptera .Which means hand wing .

Instead of front legs bats have wings made of skin 

which are supported by the bones of the arms and hands.

There are about 977 species of bat . Flying boxes are among the largest .

These bats are 45cm long,have wings that span 1.7cm 

and weight up to 1.6kg . The kitti s hog nosed bat which 

lives in Thailand ,is the smallest bats. It's weights 2gm 

and is only 2.9cm long ,making it the smallest of all mammals .

Bats sleep during the day and wake up at night when 

they go in search of food . Most bats are insect eaters a little 

brown bat can catch 1200 insects an hour but others eat 

fruit or nectar from plants . Some larger species catch 

frogs birds and fish.

Many bats are lives in large groups called colonies ,bracken cave 

in Texas contain the world's largest bat colony 

about 20 million animals . This is one of the densest 

populations of any mammals and there can be as many 

as 5000 new born babies per square meter.These bats 

eat 1000 tonnes of insects every night.

EMPEROR PENGUINS 

As we all known about penguins . The big and fat look cute 

standing like man . The penguins are 17 types of penguin 

and emperor penguins are the largest of all , growing up 

to 1.3 m tall and weighting up to 45kg . They live in the 

Antarctica ,one of the coldest places on earth .

Where are an estimated 2,00,000 breeding pairs.

The female lays a single egg then sets out to sea to feed 

while the male guards the egg for about two months . 

He keeps the egg warm by balancing it on his feet,beneath his body . 

Young chicks stay with their mothers for about 7 weeks then gather together in a group or crèche to keep warm.

This is the very little and very short notes of birds .

Actually iam writing all the content on my blog in my mothertungue malayalam this is the first time iam writing the article in english language. if you see any mistakes like grammer please forgive me.