some amazing bird facts

[kenny]

hi all


Over 100 million birds die annually by crashing into glass windows in the United States.
Kiwis are the only known bird to have nostrils located at the tip of their beak.
In the United States birds and planes collided more than 22,000 times between the years of 1990 and 1998.
In the Middle Ages, peacocks and swans were sometimes served at Christmas dinners.
In order to scare away predators, Giant petrels, a type of seabird, throw up all over the intruder.
The Arctic Tern, which is a small bird, can fly a round trip from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back. This can be as long as twenty thousand miles per year. This is the longest migration for a bird.
The American Kestrel hawk weighs only four ounces.
Storks were a symbol of fertility in Europe and were considered to bring good luck.
Some birds have been know to put ants into their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid, which kills parasites.
Pigeons can see ultraviolet lights.
In 1681, the last dodo bird died.
Flamingos are able to fly at a speed of approximately 55 kilometers an hour. In one night they can travel about 600 km.
Blue Jays can imitate the calls of hawks.
Birds do not sweat, as they do not have sweat glands.
A seagull can drink salt water because it has special glands that filter out the salt.





ken


http://bestsmileys.com/angles/12.gif

[kenny]

A peregrine falcon can reach speeds up to 200 miles per hour.
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day!
The scarlet tanager, a songbird native to Illinois, can eat as many as 2,100 gypsy-moth caterpillars in one hour.
The oldest bird on record was Cocky, a cockatoo, who died in the London Zoo at the age of 82.
The highest flight by a bird was by a Ruppell's vulture at 37,000 feet. The bird hit a plane at this height.
The fastest bird in the world is the Peregrine Falcon, which can reach speeds in excess of two hundred miles per hour.
There are an estimated 2,500 collisions between birds and planes each year in the US.
The flying fox of Africa has a wingspan of fifty inches!
Birds save energy by flying in a "V" formation.
The largest bird egg ever laid was laid millions of years ago by the Madagascar, or the elephant bird.
Wild Flamingos are pink because they consume vast quantities of algae and brine shrimp.
Whooping cranes are born with blue eyes that change to bright gold by the time they six months old.
Blue jays often forget where they hide winter supplies of food.
Sometimes birds show anger towards humans by taking out its feelings on other birds nearby, because they are too afraid to attack humans.
The Egyptian vulture uses stones to smash ostrich eggs.

[Waxbillman]

some amazing facts there Ken, some i have heard before, some are new to me, and some such as the oldest i would like to despute

Matthew

[laurab]

Well done Ken.......keep 'em' coming ;-)

[kenny]

found a few more

Vultures can soar for hours without one beat of their wings.
The dipper bird builds nests behind waterfalls for protection.
When two lovebirds appear to be kissing, they are actually grooming each other with their bills to keep clean and neat.
The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon. It can fly at a speed of 168-217 miles per hour.
A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second.
There are about 100 billion birds in the world, and about 6 billion of them make their homes in the United States.


ken

[kenny]

hi all
this one is all about hummingbirds

Hummingbirds cannot become addicted to the nectar you put out in your feeder. They will leave the feeders when they need to.
Hummingbirds eat both nectar and the small insects found near the nectar.
Although male hummers are more colorful than female hummers, female hummingbirds are relatively colorful.
Hummingbirds have split tongues, which they fold into a tube when feeding.
Normal flight speed for a hummingbird is 25 to 30 mph, but hummers can dive at speeds of up to 60 mph.
It takes hummingbird eggs two to 2 1/2 weeks to hatch.
Hummingbird eggs are so small that a penny would completely cover three of them. The usual brood, however, is two eggs.
Hummingbird nests average about 1-1/2 inches in outside diameter. A penny will almost fill the inside diameter.
Only ten species of hummers have significant ranges north of Mexico. Only the ruby-throated hummingbird ranges east of the Mississippi.
In the eighteenth century, when Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus devised the scientific classification system still in use today (kingdom, phylum, class, order and family) hummingbirds were assigned their own family: Trochilidae, from the Greek trochilos, meaning small bird.
When early Spanish explorers encountered hummingbirds they called them Joyas voladoras, flying jewels.
Hummingbirds are native to South America.
Adult female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are 15-20% larger than adult males.
The only bird that can fly backwards is the Hummingbird.
A hummingbird's heart beats 615 beats in a minute.



ken

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Ken,

Some interesting facts there mate,:D I would guess the reason for a Hummingbird being able to fly backwards is avoid coming into contact with a Bee if a flower is already occupied?:lol:

Birds anting to rid themselves of parasites I thought was restricted to Softbills such as Crows, Jays, Starlings, Robins, Laughing Thrushes etc, but I've seen my Taveta Weavers doing this too.

Paul.;)

[kenny]

hi all
seing as matt and laura are into moths



Butterflies get their name from the yellow brimstone butterfly of Europe that is first seen in the early spring or "butter" season.
Female Queen Alexandra butterflies, from Papua and New Guinea, are the largest in the world, some with wingspans larger than 26 cm.
Butterflies and moths are found on all land masses except Antarctica.
The atlas moth, one of the largest silk moths, can be mistaken for a medium-sized bat when flying.
There are over 2,000 species of butterflies in the rainforests of South America.
Butterflies belong to, alongside with moths to an order called Lepidoptera.
The fastest flying butterfly is the Monarch, which has been clocked with a speed as high as 17 miles per hour.
Butterflies are further divided into 30 orders, the main basis of classification being their wing structure.
The main features of butterflies have in common are:
6 legs
one pair of antennae
a segmented body in which three body parts, a head, a thorax and an abdomen can be distinguished.
Night butterflies have ears on their wings so they can avoid bats.
A butterfly's taste sensors are located below their feet.
The color in a butterfly's wings does not come from pigment. The color is produced prism-like by light reflected by their transparent wing scales.
The largest butterfly is the Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly from Papua New Guinea. The wingspan of the butterfly can reach to be almost one foot.
A butterfly has to have a body temperature greater than 86 degrees to be able to fly.
A butterfly can see the colors red, green, and yellow.


ken

[Rogerb]

thanks kenny you have put my mind at rest its bugged me for a long time why they were called butterflies this post is the the mutts nuts mate I will copy it for the kids at school its good to learn the things that seem so stupid but have a valid explanation MR B

[kenny]

hi all
back to birds now!

- The shadow bird always builds a 3-room nest. The third section is the nursery; the second is a pantry; and in the first, the male parent stands guard against intruders.
- Ostriches can kick with tremendous force, but only forward. Don't Mess with them !
- The reef heron, which feeds on shellfish on the Great Barrier Reef, daily flies 30 miles from the Australian mainland, and although the tide changes vary by 45 minutes a day, the heron always arrives at the exact time that the water recedes.
- Because of their weight, which averages 22 pounds, Japanese cranes require a run of more than 30 feet to become airborne
- An elephant can smell water three miles away.
-The breed of the Thoroughbred horse is only about 300 years old, although horse racing has been popular in England since Roman times, and can be traced back to Central Asia among prehistoric nomads.
- An adult crow needs 11 ounces of food each day.
- If the great horned owl were to be totally stripped of its feathers, the naked bird would weigh less than its feathers
- A pair of nesting barn owls is capable of catching and eating nearly 3,000 rats a year.


ken

[kenny]

hi all
a few more here

A few Amazing Bird Facts
* A chicken is 75% water.
* A chicken with red earlobes will produce brown eggs, and a chicken with white earlobes will produce white eggs.
* A hawk’s vision is so good that it can see a mouse from a height of one mile.
* A hummingbird’s heart beats 615 beats in a minute.
* A mother hen turns her egg approximately 50 times in a day. This is so the yolk does not stick to the shell.
* A seagull can drink salt water because it has special glands that filter out the salt.
* All of the Peking ducks in the United States are descendents from three ducks and one drake imported to Long Island, New York in 1873



ken

i need some feed back from this section .......would anyone like to see amazing facts of any kind mammal related only not silly stuff or would you like me to stick to just birds or the odd thing that is site related......please let me know

[Waxbillman]

i enjoy reading the many amazing facts about birds Ken,

i ca't say i would read owt else, as everytime i go on this site the internet crashed and it really narks me off, so usually i end up not reading stuff

Matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Ken,

I don't know the source of your information, but I'm interested in all of the facts that you are posting whether they are bird related or not.;-)

Birds, Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish etc, it all makes good reading to me.

Also I will sometimes read your posts and not comment, but that doesn't mean that I haven't enjoyed reading your post and I'm sure other members do the same.

I have read some of your posts and been stumped for a reply, but at the same time the facts you have posted have caused quite a lot of thought.

Many thanks, Paul.:D

[kenny]

hi matt/paul
i dont mind putting the stuff on, as during the night between 10 and when i go to bed i am on the pc looking for stuff to occupy me and i can usually find most stuff i just thought that if it was rubbish i wouldnt bother as i dont want to put stuff on that was of no interest to anyone so i will just stick to site related stuff...and post related similar to the stuff i have found for roger


ken

[laurab]

Go for it Kenny ;)

Matt, what is it about this site that makes your internet crash???