Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Some Bird Facts You Should Know


Heaviest And Tallest Bird: Ostrich At Maximum 156 Kg (345 Lb) And 2.7 M (9 Ft)
Heaviest Flying Birth: Great Bustard At Maximum 21 Kg (46.3 Lb)
Largest Extinct Bird: Dromornis Stirtoni Of Australia At 454 Kg (1,000 Lb) And 3 M (10 Ft)
Tallest Extinct Bird: Giant Moa Of New Zealand At 3.7 M (12 Ft)
Greatest Wingspan: Wandering Albatross At Up To 3.63 M (11 Ft 11 In)
Greatest Wingspan Of Landbirds: Andean Condor And Marabou Stork Tied At 3.2 M (10.5 Ft)
Smallest Bird: Bee Hummingbird At 5.7 Cm (2.24 In) And 1.6 G (0.056 Oz)
Smallest Flightless Bird: Inaccessible Island Rail At 12.5 Cm (5 In) And 34.7 G (1.2 Oz)
Longest Legs: Ostrich Longest Legs Relative To Body Length: Black-Winged Stilt At 23 Cm (9 In), Or 60% Of Its Height
Absolute Shortest Legs: Virtually Non-Existent In Swifts (Apodidae)
Longest Toes Relative To Body Length: Northern Jacana At 10 Cm (4 In)
Longest Bill Relative To Body Length: Swordtailed Hummingbird At 10.5 Cm (4.13 In)
Absolute Longest Bill: Australian Pelican At 47 Cm (18.5 In)
Fastest-Moving Bird: Diving Peregrine Falcon At 188 Km/H (117 Mph)
Fastest Flapping Flight. White-Throated Needle-Tailed Swift At 170 Km/H (106 Mph)
Fastest Level-Flight. Red-Breasted Merganser At 161 Km/H (100 Mph)
Absolute Shortest Bill: Glossy Swiftlet At Just A Few Mm
Largest And Fleshiest Tongue: Flamingo
Longest Tongue Relative To Body Size: Wryneck At Two-Thirds Of Its Body Length Excluding The Tail
Smallest Hearts Relative To Body Size: Central And South American Tinamous At 1.6-3. 1 % Of Body Weight
Longest Feathers: Onagadori, A Domestic Strain Of Red Jungle Fowl, At 10.59 M (34.75 Ft)
Longest Tailfeathers: Crested Argus Pheasant At 173 Cm (5.7 Ft)
Longest Tail Coverts: Indian And Green Peafowl At 160 Cm (5.24 Ft)
Widest Tail Feathers: Crested Argus Pheasant At 13 Cm (5.1 In)
Longest Tail Feathers Relative To Body Length: Fork-Tailed Flycatcher At 27 Cm (10.75 In)
Longest Primary Feathers Relative To Body Length: Permant-Winged Nightjar At 60 Cm (2 Fit)
Shortest Tails: Virtually Non-Existent In Kiwis, Emus, Rheas, Cassowaries
Greatest Number Of Feathers: Whistling Swan At 25,216
Lowest Number Of Feathers: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird At 940
Most Secondary Flight Feathers: Wandering And Royal Albatrosses With 40 Secondaries And 11 Primaries On Each Wing
Largest Eyeball: Ostrich With A Diameter Of 5 Cm (2 In)
Fastest-Moving Racing Pigeon: 177 Km/H (110 Mph)
Slowest-Flying Bird: American Woodcock At 8 Km/H (5 Mph)
Fastest Wingbeat: Hummingbirds, E.G., Amethyst Woodstar And Horned Sungem, At 90/Sec
Slowest Wingbeat: Vultures At 1/Sec
Longest Soaring Bird: Albatrosses And Condors
Smallest Soaring Bird: Swift
Highest Flying Bird: Ruppell's Griffon Vulture At 11,274 In (7 Mi)
Most Aerial Bird: Sooty Terns At 3 To 10 Years Without Landing
Most Aerial Landbird: Common Swift At 3 Years Without Landing
Longest Two-Way Migration: Arctic Tern At 40,200 Km (25,000 Miles)
Longest Migration (Assuming A Coastal Route): Common Tern At 26,000 Km ( 6,210 Miles) In January 1997
Most Aquatic Bird: Penguins With 75% Of Their Lives Spend In The Sea
Keenest Sense Of Smell: Kiwis
Keenest Sense Of Hearing: Barn Owl
Keenest Eyesight: Diurnal Raptors With 1 Million Cones Per Sq. Mm In The Retinal Fovea
Best Light-Gathering Capacity At Night: Owls, E.G., Tawny Owl
Greatest G-Force (Acceleration Due To Gravity): Beak Of Red-Headed Woodpecker Hitting Bark At 20.9 Km/H (13 Mph)
Highest Daily Frequency Of Pecking: 12,000 Times By Black Woodpecker
Most Intelligent Bird: African Gray Parrot, Crows, "Bait-Fishing" Green And Striated Herons
Most Talkative Bird: African Gray Parrot With A Vocabulary Of 800 Words
Birds That Use Echolocation: Cave Swiftlets And Oilbirds
Largest Recorded Nesting Bird Colony: 136 Million Passenger Pigeon Nesting In An Area In Wisconsin Covering 1,942 Sq Km (750 Sq Mi)
Most Abundant Bird: Red-Billed Quelea At Up To 10 Billion
Fastest Running Bird: Ostrich At 97.5 Km/H (60 Mph)
Fastest Running Flying Bird: Greater Roadrunner At 42 Km/H (26 Mph)
Fastest Underwater Swimming Bird: Gentoo Penguin At 36 Km/H (22.3 Mph)
Deepest Dive For Non-Flying Bird: Emperor Penguin At 540 M (1,772 Ft)
Deepest Dive For A Flying Bird: Thick-Billed Murre At 2 10 M (689 Ft)
Deepest Dive For A Flying Bird Under 210 G: Peruvian Diving Petrel At 83 M (272 Ft)
Longest Submerged: Emperor Penguin At 18 Minutes
Greatest Weight-Carrying Capacity: Bald Eagle Lifting A 6.8 Kg (15 Lb) Mule Deer
Greatest Hibernator: Poorwill With Body Temperature Lowered To 18-20 Degrees C (64.4-68 Degrees F)
Greatest Bird Mimic: Marsh Warbler With Up To 84 Songs
Most Songs Sung Per Unit Time. 22,197 In 10 Hours By A Red-Eyed Vireo
Coldest Temperature Regularly Endured By A Bird: Average Temperatures Of -45.6 Degrees C (-50 Degrees F) For Emperor Penguins
Coldest Temperature Endured By A Bird: -62.5 Degrees C (-80.5 Degrees F) By Snowy Owl
Coldest Temperature Of Land Where A Bird Has Been Recorded: -89.6 Degrees C (-129 Degrees F) In Vostok, Russia For South Polar Skua
Warmest Temperature Regularly Endured By A Bird: Larks And Wheatears At 44-45 Degrees C (111-113 Degrees F)
Lowest Altitude For Nesting: Little Green Beeeater At 400 M (1,307 Ft) Below Sea-Level In The Dead Sea
Longest Fasting Period: 134 Days For Incubating Male Emperor Penguins
Most Northerly Nesting Bird: Ivory Gull At Edge Of Pack Ice In Arctic Circle
Largest Ground Nest: Dusky Scrubfowl Nest At 11 M (36 Ft) Wide And 4.9 M (16 Ft) High With Over 2,700 Kg (300 Tons) Of Forest Floor Litter
Largest Tree Nest: Bald Eagle In Florida At 6.1 M (20 Ft) Deep, 2.9 M (9.5 Ft) Wide, And Weighing 2,722 Kg (Almost 3 Tons)
Largest Social Nest: African Social Weavers With A 100-Chamber Nest Structure 8.2 M (27 Ft) In Length And 1.8 M (6 Ft) High
Largest Roofed Nest: Hamerkop At 2 M (6.5 Ft) Wide And 2 M (6.5 Ft) Deep
Longest Nest Burrow: Rhinoceros Auklet At 8 M (26 Ft)
Highest Tree Nest: Marbled Murrelet At 45 M (148 Ft)
Smallest Nest: Cuban Bee And Vervain Hummingbirds At 1.98 Cm (0.78 In) In Breadth And 1.98 - 3.0 Cm (0.78 - 1.2 In) Deep
Foulest Smelling Nest: Eurasian Hoopoe
Greatest Number Of Sperm Storage Tubules: Turkey At 20,000
Greatest Longevity Of Sperm Inside A Female: Turkey At 42 Days
Largest Egg: Ostrich Measuring 17.8 By 14 Cm (7 By 4.5 In)
Largest Egg Laid By A Passerine: 5 7 G (2 Oz) By Australian Lyrebirds
Largest Egg Laid Relative To Body Weight: Little Spotted Kiwi At 26%
Smallest Egg Laid Relative To Body Weight: Ostrich Egg At 1.5%
Smallest Egg: West Indian Vervain Humming Bird At 10 Mm (0.39 In) In Length And 0.375 G (0.0132 Oz)
Largest Collection Of Bird Skins: British Museum Of Natural History With 1.25 Million
Most Valuable Bird: 8 Billion Domestic Chickens Produce 562 Billion Eggs Annually
Most Valuable Nest: Gray-Rumped Swiftlet For Bird's Nest Soup
Roundest Eggs: Owls, Tinamous
Longest Interval Between Eggs Laid: Maleo At 1012 Day Intervals
Largest Clutch Laid By A Nidicolous Species: 19 Eggs Laid By A European Blue Tit
Largest Clutch Laid By A Nidifugous Species: 28 By A Bobwhite Quail
Largest Average Clutch Size: 15-19 By A Gray Partridge
Smallest Clutch Size: 1 Egg Laid Every 2 Years By Albatrosses
Greatest Number Of Eggs Laid Consecutively: 146 By A Mallard
Longest Uninterrupted Incubation Period: Emperor Penguin At 64-67 Days
Longest Interrupted Incubation Period: Wandering Albatross And Brown Kiwi At 85 Days
Longest Incubation Period By A Passerine Species: 50 Days For Australian Lyrebird
Shortest Incubation Period: 11 Days By Small Passerines
Longest Fledging Period Of Flying Birds: Wandering Albatross At 278 Days
Greatest Number Of Broods Raised In One Year: 21 By Zebra Finch Pair
Fastest To Breeding Maturity: Common Quail At 5 Weeks
Slowest To Breeding Maturity: Royal And Wandering Albatrosses At 6-10 Years
Longest-Lived Wild Bird: Royal Albatross At Over 58 Years
Longest-Lived Captive Bird: Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo At Over 80 Years
Largest Domesticated Bird: Ostrich
Earliest Domesticated Bird: Jungle Fowl At 3200 BC
Heaviest Domestic Turkey: 37 Kg (81 Lb)
Country With The Most Endangered Birds: Indonesia With 126 (Brazil Second With 121)
Country With The Highest Percentage Of Its Bird Species Endangered: New Zealand With 30%
Country With The Most Introduced Species: United States (Hawaii) With 68
Most Recent Species Of Bird To Be Declared Extinct: Flightless Atitlan Grebe Of Guatemala In 1984
Most Recent North American Bird To Be Declared Extinct. Dusky Seaside Sparrow, A Race Of Seaside Sparrow, In 1987
Rarest Bird In The World: Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, Jerdon's Courser
Highest Price Paid For A Bird Book: $3.96 Million (U.S.) For A Set Of John James Audubon's The Birds Of America In 1989
Highest Price Paid For A Mounted Bird: 9,000 British Pounds For An Extinct Great Auk By The Natural History Museum Of Iceland On 1971
Highest Price Paid For A Live Bird. 41,000 British Pounds For A Racing Pigeon Named Peter Pau In 1986
Highest Price Paid For A Cage Bird. 5,000 British Pounds For A Hyacinth Macaw
H
ighest Price Paid For An Eggs: 1,000 British Pounds For An Egg Of Extinct Aepyornis Maximus
F
irst Bird Featured On A U.S. Postage Stamp: Bald Eagle




Sunday, March 05, 2006

The Savannah Nightjar

Caught this Savannah Nightjar female on the camera on our way to Tungareshwar near Alibaug
The bird was so confident of its camouflage that it wouldnt move even when we approached it as close as 3-4 feet.. Nightjars are evening or night birds and their huge eyes and sharp vision help them spot insects and moths that rise up during the late evening and at night. These birds catch their insect prey on the fly and are very good at it. The Savannah Nightjar is one of the Nightjars found in our country.

South India has a very similar species of birds called the Frogmouths.

The wikipedia link where u can get more details about these elusive birds is "Nightjars"

Check this link out for Frogmouths
 

Birding pics from my treks and birding trips

Birds have interested me right from my childhood days and the fondness for trekking and outdoors added to that interest. I would always watch them fly around and chirp around for hours from our balacony

Some Bird Fundas can be found    HERE.


Trekking is another activity which not only makes u fit and strong but also gives u time to enjoy nature in all its beauty, be it any season of the year. I am uploading some of the pics that I have been capturing through the years of trekking and espeially after joining BNHS and coming in contact with birders like Adesh, Shashank, Ritesh, etc.....