Birds
Hummingbirds, chickens, flamingos, pheasants: birds may come in all different shapes and sizes, but they all possess feathers, which is the easiest way to distinguish them from all other animals. Although not all species of bird can fly (sorry about that, ostriches), many birds do enjoy the power of flight, and this has permitted an almost unlimited diversification of birds, so that birds are now found virtually everywhere on Earth.
Birds Encyclopedia Articles
Featured Articles
hummingbird
Hummingbird, any of about 320 species of small, often brightly coloured birds of the family Trochilidae, usually placed with the swifts in the order Apodiformes but sometimes separated in their own order,...
sparrow
Sparrow, any of a number of small, chiefly seed-eating birds having conical bills. The name sparrow is most firmly attached to birds of the Old World family Passeridae (order Passeriformes), particularly...
cassowary
Cassowary, (genus Casuarius), any of several species of large flightless birds of the Australo-Papuan region. Cassowaries are the only members of the family Casuariidae and belong to the order Casuariiformes,...
bird-watching
Bird-watching, the observation of live birds in their natural habitat, a popular pastime and scientific sport that developed almost entirely in the 20th century. In the 19th century almost all students...
poultry
Poultry, in animal husbandry, birds raised commercially or domestically for meat, eggs, and feathers. Chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese are of primary commercial importance, while guinea fowl and squabs...
woodpecker
Woodpecker, any of about 180 species of birds that constitute the subfamily Picinae (true woodpeckers) of the family Picidae (order Piciformes), noted for probing for insects in tree bark and for chiseling...
nuthatch
Nuthatch, any of about 25 species of short-tailed, long-billed birds in the family Sittidae (order Passeriformes), known for their abilities to grip tree bark as they walk up, down, and around trunks and...
gyrfalcon
Gyrfalcon, (Falco rusticolus), Arctic bird of prey of the family Falconidae that is the world’s largest falcon. Confined as a breeder to the circumpolar region except for isolated populations in Central...
megapode
Megapode, (family Megapodiidae), any of 12 species of Australasian chickenlike birds (order Galliformes) that bury their eggs to hatch them. Most species rely on fermenting plant matter to produce heat...
penguin
A rockhopper penguin on the Falkland IslandsMost penguins are black and white, but the rockhopper penguin—like the southern rockhopper (Eudyptes chrysocome) in the foreground of this image—adds more colors....
owl
Owl, (order Strigiformes), any member of a homogeneous order of primarily nocturnal raptors found nearly worldwide. The bird of Athena, the Greek goddess of practical reason, is the little owl (Athene...
whooping crane
Whooping crane, (Grus americana), tallest American bird and one of the world’s rarest. At the beginning of the 21st century fewer than 300 whooping cranes remained in the wild. Most are part of a flock...
pigeon
Pigeon, any of several hundred species of birds constituting the family Columbidae (order Columbiformes). Smaller forms are usually called doves, larger forms pigeons. An exception is the white domestic...
kakapo
Kakapo, (Strigops habroptilus), giant flightless nocturnal parrot (family Psittacidae) of New Zealand. With a face like an owl, a posture like a penguin, and a walk like a duck, the extraordinarily tame...
