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
Highest Price Paid For An Eggs: 1,000 British Pounds For An Egg Of Extinct Aepyornis Maximus
First Bird Featured On A U.S. Postage Stamp: Bald Eagle