Ladybirds are not birds – they are small beetles (Coccinelidae).  In North America they are commonly referred to as ladybugs.

http://www.earthlife.net/insects/coccinel.html

The kakapo is the world’s only flightless parrot.  A native of New Zealand, it is also the world’s heaviest parrot and can weigh up to 4 kilograms (almost 9 pounds).  Unfortunately, it is also on the critically endangered list but the kakapo recovery program shows promise.

http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/podcover.aspx?id=32854

Birds have three eyelids – an upper, a lower and a nictitating membrane between the other two eyelids and the cornea.  It helps clean and protect the eye.

http://www.earthlife.net/birds/vision.html

Buzzards' distance vision is 6 to 8 times better than ours.

http://www.earthlife.net/birds/vision.html

Owl’s eyes can’t move in their heads.  OK, that would be why they have to turn their head to watch you stroll by…

http://www.earthlife.net/birds/vision.html

American crows are known to group together in winter to sleep in communal roosts.  There can be as high as two million crows in a single roost.  Are you thinking what I’m thinking here?  Yuck…

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/American_Crow.html

By the way, the raven, in addition to looking a lot like a crow, is a member of the crow family but generally bigger with some other distinguishing features such as call, feather shape and tail shape.  Nevermore…

http://www.shades-of-night.com/aviary/difs.html

Atlantic puffins are not only good flyers, they are good swimmers.  They use their wings to stroke underwater in a flying motion and can dive to depths of 200 feet.

http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/atlantic-puffin.html

The roadrunner is a member of the cuckoo family.  Not only can they run fast (up to 17 miles per hour) they are quick enough to kill a rattlesnake for food.

http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/papr/road.html

The brown pelican is the only one of the pelican species that will dive into the water to scoop up fish.  The white pelican, for example, just floats along in the water and scoops up the fish in its bill.

http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/brownpelican.htm

http://www.whozoo.org/Intro98/stewwarr/stewwarr1.htm

The Barn Owl has such good hearing that it can catch its prey in total darkness.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Barn_Owl.html

The Loggerhead Shrike is a small predatory bird but because it has weak feet and talons it commonly impales its victim on barbed wire or thorns to hold it while feeding.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Loggerhead_Shrike.html

The Elf Owl, found in the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico, is the smallest owl in the world.  It’s only about 5 inches long and weighs about 1½ ounces.

http://www.owling.com/Elf_nh.htm

http://www.owling.com/Elf.htm

The American turkey vulture is more closely related to storks than it is to raptors such as eagles and hawks.  Since they don’t have vocal cords, the only sounds they make are hisses and grunts.

http://vulturesociety.homestead.com/TVFacts.html

Turkey vultures urinate on their legs to cool off in the summertime and because their urine contains a strong acid, it kills the bacteria the bird may have picked up in the process of feeding on carrion.

http://vulturesociety.homestead.com/TVFacts.html

Circling vultures doesn’t necessarily mean there is a carcass present.  The vultures may simply be circling to gain altitude, searching for food or playing.  Since the turkey vulture is such a great glider, it can stay airborne for over six hours without flapping a wing.

http://vulturesociety.homestead.com/

http://vulturesociety.homestead.com/TVFacts.html

The Secretary Bird, a bird of prey like the hawk or falcon, is largely terrestrial and hunts its prey on foot.  It will then either strike its potential meal with its bill or stomp on it until it is stunned or unconscious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_bird

The Secretary Bird may have gotten its name from its crest of long feathers that resemble an old-fashioned quill pen being carried behind its ears.  Or… it may be from the Arabic saqr-et-tair or “hunter bird” – no one knows for sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_bird

The Arctic tern has the longest migration of any bird.  It flies from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica and back – a distance commonly over 22,000 miles.  The trip takes about 90 days each way.

http://www.nwf.org/birdsandglobalwarming/birdprofile.cfm?bird=Arctic+Tern

When its time to nest, individual Adelie penguins (they are birds, remember?) will return to the same rookery – and the same nesting site – they used last year 99% of the time.

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/penguin/reproduction.htm

The first documented penguin sighting was most likely by Vasco de Gama’s crew on their voyage to India in 1497.  Nobody knows for sure where the word “penguin” came from but it may have been the name originally applied to the now-extinct great auk which looked a lot like the penguin.

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/penguin/scientific-classification.htm

Y’all know the Emperor is the largest penguin, right?  Well, the Fairy penguin is the smallest, measuring in around 16 inches tall and weighing a little over 2 pounds.

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/penguin/physical-characteristics.htm

Hummingbirds are the only birds able to fly backwards.  They also of course, have the fastest wing beat of any bird.

http://www.humming-birds.com/facts.html

The kiwi is the only bird to have nostrils at the end of its beak.  It makes it handy for the bird to sniff out food.

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Conservation/001~Plants-and-Animals/001~Native-Animals/Kiwi/index.asp

The turkey was not a new bird to the Pilgrims.  By the 1500’s the turkey was being raised domestically in Italy, France and England.

http://www.eatturkey.com/consumer/history/history.html

Benjamin Franklin would have preferred the turkey to be designated as the United States’ national bird.  Personally, I think the eagle was a better choice…

http://www.eatturkey.com/consumer/history/history.html

Only the tom turkeys can gobble.  The hens make a clicking sound.  Also, domestic turkeys can’t fly – the wild ones can for short distances.

http://www.eatturkey.com/consumer/history/history.html

And no, domestic turkeys won’t drown by staring at the sky and letting the water flood into their nostrils during a rainstorm.  Geesh…

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/turkey.htm

The white-throated spine-tailed swift can fly faster than any other bird – up to 110 miles per hour.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/a-birds.html

Huh?  No, the Peregrine falcon can’t fly faster.  It can however dive at speeds exceeding 200 mph.  Wow!  That makes it the fastest critter in the world!

http://www.raptorresource.org/facts.htm

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Peregrine_Falcon.html

The whistling swan has more feathers than any other bird – around 25,000 at last count.

http://www.earthlife.net/birds/feathers.html

The wild bird with the longest feathers is the Crested Argus Pheasant.  Its feathers can get up to 5.7 feet long.

http://www.earthlife.net/birds/feathers.html

The smallest bird is the bee hummingbird.  It’s only a couple of inches long including its beak and tail and weighs around 2 grams (0.07 ounces).

http://library.thinkquest.org/11922/birds/hummingbird.htm

[Stated “fact”:  Emus can not walk backwards.]    Hmmm… it appears they can – briefly.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2000-09/969403757.Zo.r.html

The emu can execute a near 180 degree turn while running at top speed.  This helps it escape predators fairly easily.

http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/education/factfiles/16.htm

Can a duck’s quack produce an echo?  Of course it can, no matter what you hear to the contrary…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck

The ostrich eye is almost two inches across and is the largest of any land animal.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-ostrich.html

No silly, ostriches don’t bury their head in the sand.  When they’re really threatened though, they will flop down on the ground and stretch their neck out in front of them so… if you are some distance from this big bird, all you can see is their body.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-ostrich.html

Flamingos feed by hanging their bills upside down facing “backwards” in the water.

http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Flamingos/fdiet.html

The acorn woodpecker drills holes in tree trunks to store… yep, acorns.

http://www.birding.com/572aw.asp

The Cardinal is the most popular state bird (7 states) while the Western Meadowlark comes in second with 6 states.  And the California Seagull is the favored bird of which state?  Of course… Utah…

http://www.50states.com/bird/

Albatrosses (think large, clumsy bird…) spend almost all of their time out on the ocean – eating, sleeping and just hanging out.  The only time they return to land is to breed and nest.

http://www.wfu.edu/biology/albatross/atwork/atwork.htm

The female albatross will lay only one egg a year.

http://www.wfu.edu/biology/albatross/atwork/atwork.htm

Once airborne, the albatross very seldom flaps its wings.

http://www.wfu.edu/biology/albatross/atwork/dynamic_soaring.htm

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