These amazing birds. For everyone and about everything. The biggest birds

On our planet, there are many species of birds that differ from each other both externally, and in habits, and in lifestyle. We will tell you about interesting features some representatives of the feathered world, distinguishing them from other birds ...

We will not list encyclopedic information about the size of these birds and other facts that tell about their "everyday" life, we'd rather try to find some "zest" in each of them ...

Kiwis are New Zealand's centenarians, having appeared here over thirty million years ago.

Kiwis still have wings, although they are practically invisible. Their size does not exceed 5 cm. Kiwi eyes are also small, but very powerful legs with huge claws.

Kiwi has an excellent "scent". At the tip of her long beak there are special antennae. Having put his “nose” into the ground, the kiwi, in the literal sense of the word, sniffs out worm-bugs there.

At one time, kiwis were on the verge of extermination, and all because of their feathers - the natives made durable protective raincoats from them. Now the kiwi population is not very large (about 70 thousand individuals), and this time it is all the fault of the predators brought into the kiwi habitat, as well as uncontrolled deforestation.

Kiwi is a symbol of New Zealand, its image can be seen on stamps and coins.

The name of these birds is translated from Greek as "bull horn". Their distinctive feature is a huge beak. And this is with a rather modest size of other parts of the body.

When the hornbill flies, its wings make sounds similar to the hum of an approaching train. This is due to the special structure of their wings - the intervals between flight feathers not covered with small feathers. When you flap your wings, the air noisily passes through them, making such loud sounds.

Hornbills are extremely noisy creatures, making very non-melodious sounds. And if they are in danger, the "rhinos" begin to screech heart-rendingly, and they can be heard for several kilometers.

Interesting fact. Female hornbills incubate their chicks in tree cavities. In order to protect themselves and their offspring from uninvited guests, in particular, snakes, they immure themselves in a hollow with a mixture of saliva, droppings and other “improvised materials”. They leave only a small hole through which the male will bring them food. I must say, the males do this very diligently, as a result, they themselves lose a lot of weight, and the females gain weight extremely during their voluntary imprisonment in the hollow.

Hornbills love to hunt snakes, and collectively. If some one especially notices a reptile, she will call her relatives with her cries, who, protecting their bodies from snake bites with dense wings, begin to tear it to pieces.

The California Condor is one of the largest flying birds.

Their wingspan is over 3.5 meters. And many thousands of years ago, a condor lived in California, whose wingspan exceeded five meters!

These are very powerful birds of prey, capable of for a long time soar in the air, have a very unsympathetic "face". They have a small head, and besides, they are completely bald. Why did nature treat them so badly? Everything is absolutely justified. While eating, and condors feed on large prey, they do not tear off pieces of meat from the edge with their powerful beaks, and often climb inside the carcass with their heads and, naturally, get very dirty in the bloody insides of the “food”. Therefore, with such "sloppy" meals, feathers on the head become absolutely superfluous. Below the bald head, on the neck, the condor has a collar of feathers, which serves as a barrier to the flowing blood of the victim, so that it does not stain the feathers on the body.

Condors are scavengers, often devouring decaying food. To neutralize cadaveric poison, their stomachs produce special juices.

Condors love to sunbathe with their huge wings spread. This is done to get rid of bacteria on the feathers.

Now, unfortunately, Californian condors are listed in the Red Book.

Velvet weaver - the bird with the largest tail

Of course, in relation to the body of the bird itself. I must say that males have beautiful long black tails, and females are inconspicuous, like sparrows. These birds are often referred to as "widows" and it's all about their tail.

Why are these birds called "weavers"? For the fact that they skillfully weave them vegetable fibers their nests, and this is always done by males. Females "decorate" the dwelling from the inside.

"Gannet" in Spanish means "stupid" or "clown". So these birds were named not for stupid behavior, but for their clumsy gait on land. And also for their absolute credulity. Gannets are not at all afraid of people, which often ends badly for them.

The males of these funny birds seem to be shod in blue boots. The color of the paws varies depending on the age, health status and nutrition of the male. The older and more sickly the male, the lighter the legs. Considering all this, the female chooses for herself the most suitable and capable male for procreation.

The sage grouse is a bird whose males boast bright colors (compared to females) and organs that resemble a female bust. In fact, these are throat pouches hidden in feathers. During courtship, males inflate them to their maximum size, and hide their heads, as if they didn’t exist at all. Black grouse often fight for the female, angrily sticking out their red eyebrows and hitting each other with their swollen breasts.

Puffins are sea birds that spend a lot of time in the ocean. On land, in fact, they only hatch offspring.

Puffins are good anglers and excellent divers. They can stay underwater for more than two minutes.

Birds have to travel long distances from the nest with chicks to the place of "fishing", so the birds try to bring as many fish as possible at a time. The largest human recorded record is 29 fish.

These birds form bird markets, settling on steep coastal cliffs.

Beauties! The bright appearance of such chickens can be envied by ordinary chickens. And their feathers are beautiful, and become, and the “hairstyle” is such, as if a cool stylist worked with them!

Padua chickens have a pampered disposition. They do not like rain and snow - their hair and beard get very wet and the chickens catch a cold.

Many centuries ago, paduan chickens were kept as decoration. In the Vatican, there are two small sculptures of padua hens dated to the second century AD.

For the sake of eggs and meat, they began to breed only in the 18th century.

The birthplace of these beautiful chickens is Italy.

Cassowary is the most dangerous and aggressive flightless bird.

Cassowary means "horned head" in Indonesian. This is a huge bird, whose height can reach two meters, and weight 85 kg.

The cassowary is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the most dangerous bird in the world. He is extremely irritable. No one knows what will enter his bird's head the next moment, so anyone in the reach of a cassowary must be extremely careful. The cassowary does not wait for an attack from outside, it always attacks first. Considering its dimensions, twelve-centimeter claws, a developed speed on land of 50 km / h and excellent swimmer abilities, it becomes clear that the victim of a cassowary has practically no chance of escaping. Cassowaries are also good high jumpers: it is not difficult for them to jump over a meter-long obstacle!

Even with their brethren, cassowaries fight not for life, but for death!

In past centuries, daggers and needles were made from the claws and bones of cassowaries.

Now some people are trying to raise cassowaries for later sale. One bird costs about 1.5 thousand dollars.

Hummingbird is the smallest bird

Hummingbird is perhaps the smallest and most delightful creation of our mother nature. The smallest hummingbird is called "bee hummingbird", this bird is only 7 centimeters long and weighs 2 grams; the largest representative of the hummingbird is called the "giant hummingbird", its length is 21 centimeters and its weight is about 20 grams.

Nature researchers also awarded other representatives of this family with very beautiful names: “angel hummingbird”, “snow-capped hummingbird”, “coquette hummingbird”, “emerald neck”, “fiery topaz”, “flying amethyst”.

1. There are over 300 varieties of hummingbirds in the world. At first glance, these birds are very delicate and fragile, however, they are the hardiest in the entire animal world. There are hummingbirds in a variety of climatic conditions: Arizona, the coast of Nova Scotia, Argentina, even Alaska. An interesting fact: hummingbirds live only in the New World.

2. On average, the length of a hummingbird is 5.7 centimeters, and most of the body is occupied by the tail and beak. The hummingbird weighs approximately 1.5 grams. The length of the largest representative of this family is 20 centimeters. Hummingbirds live for about 9 years.

3. The hummingbird has an incredibly developed heart, its volume is three times the stomach and takes up half of the already tiny body. This is due to the fact that these birds lead a very mobile lifestyle, and also have a very fast metabolism. We also note that hummingbirds have several times more red blood cells than other representatives of birds.

4. The heart of a hummingbird beats at an incredibly high frequency, 500 beats per minute (and this is at rest, but in certain types can reach 1000), and during the life of this crumb, the heart contracts 4.5 billion times, which is almost twice as many beats as it beats human heart for 70 years.

5. Hummingbirds need a lot of food. The daily norm of food exceeds the weight of a hummingbird twice. It is clear that this is the only way they can maintain such a fast metabolism and a stable temperature of their bodies. The diet of a hummingbird is flower nectar and small insects.

6. The flight speed of a hummingbird reaches 80 kilometers per hour, while they make 8-10 flaps of wings in one second. The wings move so fast that they are almost invisible. They hover motionlessly over the flower only due to the incredible speed of their wings.

7. Using a camera that can capture brief moments, an interesting moment was captured when the hummingbird entered the peak. As a result, stunning data were obtained: the speed of the bird is 400 of its bodies per second. If we compare the speed and body length of a hummingbird, it turns out that their ratio is much higher than that of a fighter with afterburner turned on and that of a space shuttle when passing through the earth's atmosphere. At the moment of exit from the peak, the hummingbird shows such instant braking, which is beyond the control of other living organisms conquering the airspace.

8. These little birds never pair up. Responsibilities for family affairs fall entirely on the "shoulders" of the female. She herself builds a nest and later raises the chicks. A female hummingbird usually lays two eggs and very rarely one.

9. The only time a hummingbird was found on the territory Russian Federation. The ocher hummingbird was discovered in 1976 on Ratmanov Island (Bering Strait).

10. Hummingbird is not only a small bird. A similar name is: a musical group from St. Petersburg; in 2004, a publishing house for the book industry was founded in Russia; pistol, the creator of which is the designer Franz Pfannlem; hybrid balloons; German kayak with a unique frame.

Among the variety of bird species, there are those that stand out for their unusual size - the smallest and largest birds. It is known about birds with strange beaks and birds digging holes.

The biggest birds

Among the birds there are very large ones. Majority large birds, unfortunately, are deprived of the opportunity to fly. The largest birds are the cassowary, ostrich and condor.

Ostrich

The truly giant bird is the ostrich. She can be admired not only for the largest dimensions and impressive weight, but also for her running speed. As you know, an ostrich is able to overtake a horse. In a sprint, the bird can accelerate to seventy kilometers per hour, while it is helped by very strong legs that take four-meter steps.

Cassowary

Another large bird lacking the ability to fly is the cassowary. Her height reaches one and a half meters with a weight of eighty kilograms. Max speed this bird is fifty kilometers an hour. On the skull of the cassowary there is a bone plate, sometimes growing up to seventeen centimeters. For this, the Indonesians called her horned head.

Condor

Not all large birds can fly. There is a "giant" that rises high into the sky - this is the Californian condor. The Indians in the old days believed that the sun rested on the huge wings of a condor. This is not surprising, because its wingspan is three meters twenty-five centimeters. The length of the body of the condor itself is one meter thirty-five centimeters.

Albatross is also considered a large bird. He can plan in several ways. .

The smallest birds

Birds differ from each other in many ways, including size. The smallest birds are found even among predators.

bee hummingbird

The islands of Pinos and Cuba are home to the smallest birds in the world. It's about the bee hummingbird. Its weight is only 1.6 g. With a length of five centimeters, seven millimeters, along with a beak and tail. Its second name is the bird-fly.

baby falcon

The black-footed baby falcon is one of the miniature birds of prey. Approximately the same size is another predator - White-fronted falcon-baby. Their length is fifteen centimeters, and their weight is thirty-five grams. These birds live in southeast Asia and feed on dragonflies, butterflies, lizards, etc. Larger prey is not available to them, since they simply will not carry it away.

red-headed beetle

The smallest bird living in Russia is called the red-headed kinglet. Its weight is only five and a half grams with a length of nine centimeters. The red-headed beetle is extremely rare.

yellow-mouthed beetle

The yellow-mouthed wren is not only one of the smallest birds, but also the national bird of Luxembourg. The weight of this "baby" is about six grams, and the length does not exceed ten centimeters.

The most unusual birds

The world of birds is diverse, and among all this diversity there are birds with an unusual way of incubation, a non-standard appearance, a special structure of the legs or beak.

Malaya Sultanka

The small sultanka, thanks to its long fingers, has the ability to swim like a duck, and climb the branches and stems of vegetation, and walk like a chicken on floating plants. All this is possible thanks to the long fingers of the sultan.

Red-billed Alcyone

In an unusual way of incubation of eggs, the red-billed alcyone stands out among the birds. It is a bird of prey feeding on songbirds, rodents, frogs, snails, etc. To incubate eggs, Alcyone builds a nest by digging a hole up to fifty centimeters long.

Indian hornbill

The peculiarity of the hornbill is its massive yellow beak. On the beak is a growth similar to the second hollow beak. By the way, scientists still cannot understand the purpose of this growth. The bird is omnivorous; it feeds on fish, a variety of fruits, and small mammals.

A shoebill seems to be a strange, unusual and even prehistoric bird. It is extremely little studied. This is one of the largest birds, being a close relative of storks, pelicans, marabou.

On the massive head of the bird is a huge beak with a hook at the end. The head is wide, even slightly wider than the body of the shoebill. This strange bird lives on the banks of the Nile in Africa, preferring swampy places. Its main food is lungfish protoptera.
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We present you a selection of rare, beautiful and simply strange birds, which will be of interest not only to ornithologists, but also to photographers.

tangerine(Aix galericulata) is a wood duck that breeds in the Far Eastern regions of Russia and flies to China and Japan for the winter. Mandarin ducks can also be found in China, Ireland, England and the USA, sometimes they are bred in parks. The female, as usual, is unremarkable, but the male in the wedding attire looks one hundred percent: a majestic crest sticking up like fins, wingtips, bright plumage with graphic stripes on the chest, tail and head. Keep an eye on the season - in winter, the macho mandarin loses some of its charm as unnecessary.

blue-footed booby(Sula nebouxii) relies heavily on legs, at least during the display period. The intensity of color is important for the female: the applicant with bright blue "flippers" will find a family, and the owner of faded gray-blue legs will be rejected. The easiest way to photograph these charismatic birds is in the Galapagos Islands, where half of the entire population lives. They are also found on the islands of Peru and the Gulf of California and on the west coast of Mexico.

Cassowaries do not fly, but are considered birds and live mainly in the forests of New Guinea. Their name is said to mean "horned head" in the local language. The most unusual of the three species is the helmeted cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), also found in north Queensland, Australia. The purpose of the cartilaginous outgrowth, covered with a shiny horn-like substance, has not yet been clarified for certain. Perhaps it helps to make its way through the dense thickets of the undergrowth, or it is a resonator for the calls of the cassowary.

Andean rock cockerel(Rupicola peruviana) has become a symbol of Peru, where it mainly lives. Bright plumage serves males a disservice, making them conspicuous for predators. At the same time, scientists believe that appearance for females it is secondary - first of all, good dancers and singers are taken apart, and the most punctual ones, who do not miss their daily performance. However, this also has the logic of genetic selection: he came on time five times and was not eaten by anyone - which means that the most dexterous one will be the father. It remains for us to figure out exactly where his beak is.

Quezal, or quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), was a sacred bird of the Maya and Aztecs and was forced to supply the priests with long tail feathers for religious rites. A wide crest, a green top with a golden, as if metallic, sheen, a thick crimson belly, a white bottom of the tail - the appearance of a quezal can hardly be an example of elegance. Photohunting is possible only in the wild: they say that in captivity this freedom-loving bird dies of a broken heart.

Kitoglav(Balaeniceps rex) is a rather tall and powerful bird of East Africa. Its impressive beak is an excellent fishing tool. The rest of the time, he is more of a burden: if there are few fish, you can die of hunger, you won’t get any other food for them. Yes, and he is heavy - to give a rest to the neck, from time to time the shoebill puts his head on his chest.

Kiwi(Apteryx), which are birds, not fruit, pear-shaped, vestigial wings, shaggy feathers like wool, and they smell like mushrooms. At the same time, they have a developed sense of smell and habits like those of mammals. Around the spiked beak, long bristles-vibrissae are stuck, like a cat on the muzzle. They have strong paws, and in their natural habitat, kiwis are able to walk several kilometers per night. Unfortunately, now there are few of them left and they live mostly in captivity.

Ecuadorian umbrella bird

A rare bird of the Coting family, native to Ecuador and western Colombia. This unusual feathered creature has a huge cylindrical process that looks like a large beard, which certainly makes it unique. Due to its large size, the bird, unfortunately, often becomes the prey of poachers.

Vulture parrot

Did you expect to see a bright handsome man? However, the vulture parrot can be called a real ugly duckling among other representatives of its group. The bird has black and red plumage and a formidable appearance, so it would make a good company for any pirate. The bird lives in the forests of New Guinea. The pride of the feathered one is its massive beak, about 46 cm long and weighing up to 795 g.

Incredibly, this bird has claws not only on its paws, but also on the tips of its wings, can you imagine? Young birds use these appendages to climb to safety and take to the air safely. As soon as the hoatzin grows, the claws on the wings fall off. The bird is native to the Amazon and Orinoco swamps.

Helmet-billed kalao

This bird seems to have come out of some foreign action movie. A massive beak, a helmet-like head, a shiny neck - I can’t even believe that such monsters are found on Earth! For the first time, the helmet-billed kalao was found on the Malaysian Peninsula, Borneo and Sumatra. The locals consider the strange bird to be the guardian of the waterway between life and death.

gigantic nightjar

I'll tell you this: don't walk the forests of South and Central America alone, especially at night. As soon as it gets dark, among the dense forest jungle you can meet the "evil elf" - a terrible gigantic nightjar. The huge, frightening eyes of the bird resemble buttons, and the giant, wide-open mouth evokes fear.

During the day, the bird sleeps on old stumps, broken branches. You may not even notice the sleeping "handsome" - so well his gray feathers merge with the environment. But at night, the nightjar sits quietly in its place and waits for its favorite prey - insects.

Frigate magnificent

Frigates are real sea robbers. Walking on land, they squawk at seabirds, causing them to abandon their prey. Frigates cannot land on the water on their own - they do not have membranes on their paws. Interestingly, the magnificent frigate can sleep in the air, flying over the Pacific or Atlantic oceans for many days and nights at an altitude of 2400 m.

Male frigatebirds are proud to have a large red sac around their throat that swells up during mating season and resembles a ball. The wingspan of the bird is 220 cm, length is 1 m.

African pennant nightjar

The home of this amazing feathered is the Sahara, and hallmark- two long feathers up to 60 cm long, growing in males during mating games. The bird itself reaches only 23 cm in length. As soon as the mating season ends, the bird loses its feather wings and becomes inconspicuously feathered.

That's so healthy! The maximum wingspan of the bearded man is 304 cm, the largest weight is 8 kg. You can meet a giant bird along the mountain ranges of Southern Europe, Africa, Tibet and India.

The bird is quite difficult. The bearded man feeds on 90% of the bone marrow. To feast on his favorite delicacy, he drives sheep to the edge of cliffs so that they fall, breaking their heads, or throws turtles from a height, breaking their shells.

There is a legend that the Greek playwright Aeschylus died when a large bird threw a turtle on his head, apparently confusing her husband with a stone. If this is true, then the bearded man was certainly the culprit.

vulture guinea fowl

This unusual bird definitely flew to Earth from another planet! Just look at her strange plumage! The vulture guinea fowl is part of the guinea fowl family and is the only representative of its kind. The eyes of a strange bird are similar to the eyes of a reptile. The homeland of the vulture guinea fowl is Northeast Africa, so the bird is well adapted to a dry climate.

rose spoonbill

Inhabits the warm parts of the South and North America and very reminiscent of flamingos. Grows up to 92 cm in length. Bright pink plumage and a green bald head turn the spoonbill into a fantastic bird from some fictional country.

Favorite treats are crustaceans, insects and small fish, which give the bird such a cute, delicate plumage.