If you sit still and are quiet you will see them in your garden, you will hear them chirping early in the morning and some people even keep them as pets.
Birds can be very interesting creatures.
There are not only a lot of birds on the planet, but also many different kinds of bird. You will find about 10 000 species on Earth. Small ones, big ones, colourful and weird ones.
Birds have wings with most of them can use to fly, their bodies are covered in feathers and they are warmblooded.
- Can you remember the difference between warm- and coldblooded?
The ostrich is the largest bird on Earth and it lays the biggest egg. One of the ostrich's eggs are the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs. It can also run the fastest, but unlike most other birds, it cannot fly.
A kiwi and a penguin is another type of bird that cannot fly. Kiwis live in New Zealand and they are endangered.
- What does it mean if an animal is endangered?
- Find pictures of a few different types of birds and find some information on each - you can make a poster with the pictures and writing a sentence or two on each bird.
In order for a bird to fly, they cannot be very heavy. Their bones are hollow to make them lighter and help them fly.
Some bird are so intelligent that they can make and use certain items as tools to gather or catch food or to open something like a nut.
Corvids (crows, ravens and rooks) are well known for their large brains (among birds) and subsequent tool use. They mainly manufacture probes out of twigs and wood (and sometimes metal wire) to catch or impale larvae. Crows are among the only animals that create their own toys.
You can read more here about different animals that make and use tools to do certain tasks.
Of all the types of birds, the chicken is the species that you will find most of. The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards and the bee hummingbird is the smallest bird on Earth.
- Find a video on these beautiful little birds.
Every year when the winter comes in a specific place, some of the birds will migrate to a warmer area. To migrate means they fly very far to get to another place. Birds are designed to be able to navigate their way to different places and not get lost. You can read more about migration here.
People also keep bird as pets and entertainment and then some people use pigeons to race with - they set them free in a certain area and then see who's pigeon can get home the fastest.
If you keep a bird as a pet, you can teach them to talk - depending on the type of bird - you just need to be very patient. Find out more here about which birds will make good pets and are able to talk.
- You are going to make a bird feeder that you can hang in your garden. If you do not have a garden, you can make it for somebody else or to go and hang in the park. This is also a good way to recycle some material.
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