The world’s only wingless bird is the kiwi of New Zealand.
The most yolks ever found in a single chicken’s egg is nine.
The American turkey vulture helps human engineers detect cracked or broken underground fuel pipes. The leaking fuel smells like vulture food (they eat carrion), and the clustered birds show repair people where the lines need fixing.
The oldest bird was known as an Archaeopteryx and lived about 150 million years ago. It was the size of a raven, was covered with feathers, and had wings.
Migrating ducks and geese often fly in V-shape formations. Each bird flies in the upwash of its neighbor’s beating wings and this extra bit of supporting wind increases lift, thereby saving energy.
The now-extinct elephant bird of Madagascar laid an egg that weighed 27 pounds.
Hummingbirds eat about every ten minutes, slurping down twice their body weight in nectar every day.
The homing pigeon, Cher Ami, lost an eye and a leg while carrying a message in World War I. Cher Ami won the Distinguished Service Cross. Its leg was replaced with a wooden leg.
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.
