It's a Bird!

What makes a bird a bird? What makes birds special?

Birds are unique animals because they have feathers. But feathers need a lot of care: preening and bathing are important. Birds are fascinating to us because they make a huge variety of sounds. It's fun to keep a bird journal so you can remember all the sounds and songs you hear.

Feather Facts

Here are some basic facts about birds and their feathers:

* All birds have feathers — they are the only animals on earth that have feathers.

* Most birds can fly, but some can't. You probably already know that a penguin can't fly, and an ostrich can't fly, either. But they all have feathers.

* Feathers come in many shapes and sizes. A feather from a hummingbird is very small.

How many feathers do you think are on one wing? A lot? There are usually 9 or 10 primary flight feathers — the pointier ones at the forward part of the wing — and 9 or 10 secondary flight feathers — the ones closer to the bird's body. If the bird has already molted a feather, there will be fewer. Birds drawn in cartoons or in animated movies often have too many wing feathers — or too few!

The small feathers covering the body of a bird — on its head and back, for example — are called contour feathers. The contour feathers of penguins are so narrow and fine that they look like fur!

Feathers on most newly hatched birds are very different than those on an adult. Whether you observe a fuzzy duckling on a farm or watch a television program showing bald eagle nestlings, these young birds will be covered in soft, fluffy down feathers.

Flight feathers on the wings enable birds to fly long distances, and some birds can fly very fast. The speed of a peregrine falcon can be about 200 miles per hour! But that's only when it is diving down onto its prey, with wings half-closed, in a plummet called a stoop. Most small birds easily fly at about 20 to 30 miles an hour for short distances. A bird flying fast during migration may speed along at about 60 miles per hour.

Keeping Clean

All birds need to have clean feathers. Feathers have to be in perfect working order so a bird can fly. But feathers also keep a bird's body temperature just right, and they keep the bird dry. So birds frequently preen — that means a bird uses its beak to clean its feathers. It takes a feather in its beak and carefully pulls the length of the feather through to its end. A preening bird sometimes looks as if it is nibbling at its feathers. This helps to clean dirt, dust, or mud from the feathers. It can also clean off tiny insect parasites such as lice. Another method of keeping clean is anting — settling down on or near an anthill. The bird spreads out its wings and tail, and as the ants crawl about they leave behind a substance (formic acid) that may repel parasites.

Birds also take baths to keep their feathers clean. A bird taking a bath in a puddle or a birdbath is very active, fluffing up its feathers, dipping its head in the water, and then shaking off the water with great energy.

Dust baths are also important to birds. Pigeons, doves, and English sparrows are commonly seen fluffing their feathers and crouching down into fine sand to "dust" their feathers. Some researchers think this helps the birds to rid their feathers of parasites such as tiny lice or mites.

Birds also oil their feathers. Oil from glands at the base of the tail is picked up with the beak and rubbed across the feathers when the bird is preening.

Dinosaurs Had Feathers! Fossils of several different types of dinosaurs have been found that have clear impressions of feathers in the stone. Microraptor, Anchiornis, and Confuciusornis (kon-few-see-us-OR-nis) fossils, all found in China, are just a few of the birdlike dinosaurs that had feathers. All lived about 150 to 120 million years ago. Confuciusornis, only about one foot (30.5 cm) long, had long tail feathers. It may have been the first birdlike dino to have a true beak — with a point and no teeth. At least 500 fossil specimens of Confuciusornis have been found in China. It must have been fairly common. It is named after Confucius, an important Chinese philosopher who lived about 2,500 years ago.

It seems that each year, new fossils of feathered dinosaurs are discovered. Keep an eye out for news stories and science articles — you may read about a new finding yourself!

There are many kinds (species) of birds that don't fly. Here are a few:

* The kiwi of New Zealand. It just walks instead of flying. Its feathers look like fur.

* An ostrich. But it can run fast instead!

* Penguins. There are more than 12 species of penguins, and although they can't fly, they easily swim and dive in the ocean to catch fish. They kind of fly underwater.

* The rare kakapo, a type of parrot from New Zealand can only weakly glide, so it mostly walks everywhere.

Weird! Feathers are made of keratin, the same flexible protein that your hair and nails are composed of.

Anatomy

People who study birds also need to know the different parts of a bird. Anatomy is important when you need to describe the colors or patterns you see.

In addition to feathers, another adaptation for flight is a skeleton that is lightweight — some of the larger bones of a bird have air spaces inside, and the bones have thin walls.

Birds do not have teeth — or the heavier jaw needed to support teeth. Mergansers (diving ducks with narrow beaks) have serrated (saw-toothed) edges on their beaks. These serrations are not true teeth — just rows of tiny sharp points — but they help the mergansers catch and hold fish.

The front of a bird has to support big muscles for flying. These muscles lie against the protruding breastbone, or keel.

Name Game

You probably already know the different names for male and female chickens: a male is called a rooster or cock, and a female is a hen. A newly hatched chicken just out of the egg is called a chick. A female goose is — a goose! The males are called ganders, and the young ones are goslings.

Many other birds have different names for the males, females, and fledglings or hatchlings:

* A male swan is a cob.

* A female falcon is a falcon, but the male is a tiercel (TEER-sel).

* A male duck is called a drake.

* A young swan is a cygnet (SIG-net).

* A young hawk or falcon is an eyass (EYE-ess).

* A ruff is the name for a male sandpiper. Females are reeves.

* You might be surprised to find out that there is no such thing as a seagull. Although "seagull" is a commonly used name, you won't find it in any field guide or scientific book about...