Amazing Facts about Birds

  • The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon . It can swoop down on its prey at a speed of 300 km an hour.

  • The largest bird is the ostrich. It can grow as tall as 2.5 metres and it weighsabout 150 kg.

  • The smallest bird is the hummingbird. It measures about 5 cm and weighs only 3 grams.

  • The greatest traveller is the Arctic tern. It travels about 17 000 km between its breeding grounds in the Arctic and its winter home in the Antarctic.

Arctic tern

Arctic tern

  • The fastest running bird is the ostrich. It can run at a speed of up to 70 km an hour.

  • The highest fliers are vultures and geese. They have been seen at heights of almost 10,000 metres.

  • The heaviest flying bird is the great bustard. It must fly with a weight of about 20 kg.

  • The Australian pelican has the longest beak—47 cm.

  • Owls have the best vision and hearing at night.

  • Storks and albatrosses have the longest wingspans (almost 4 metres) .

  • Parrots are the longest-living birds. They can reach an age of up to 100 years. 

Words

  • beak = the hard and pointed mouth of a bird
  • breeding grounds =places where animals go to lay eggs or have babies
  • bustard =large European land bird
  • hummingbird =a very brightly coloured tropical bird whose wings move very quickly
  • measure =here: how long something is
  • owl = a bird with large eyes that hunts at night
  • peregrine falcon a hunting bird with a black and white body
  • prey = an animal or bird that is hunted and eaten by another animal
  • swoop = to move down very quickly in order to attack someone or something
  • tern =a black and white sea bird that has long wings and a tail with two points
  • vulture = a large bird that eats dead animals
  • weigh =how heavy something is
  • wingspan = the distance from one end of the wing to the other

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