HowStuffWorks Newsletter
Birds are often envied for their ability to fly, but not all of them can. Learn how birds can manipulate feathers, bone and wing structure to soar through the air and even dive-bomb into the water for food.
Topics to Explore:
Budgies are the same species as parakeets and make fabulous pets – and, yes, they love to talk!
There are 126 species of birds that don't have the ability to fly, for various evolutionary reasons. Let's meet seven of them.
By Katie Carman
Flamingos use a secretion from a gland near their rear end to touch up their feathers when they've been bleached by the sun.
Advertisement
Migrating birds are dying by the billions as they lose their way and smash into lit buildings at night. Big cities like Philadelphia are turning out the lights to try and help save them.
A bird thought to be extinct for 170 years is rediscovered in Borneo.
Magpies are much-maligned as harbingers of doom, thieves of shiny objects and songbird eggs, but they're smart, monogamous for life and actually hold funerals for one another.
Finches can live for five to 10 years and make great companion pets as long as they are given enough space to fly around.
Advertisement
The cartoon Roadrunner beep-beeped his way through the desert, outfoxing Wile E. Coyote every time, but the real bird can run up to 27 mph and, in some Native American traditions, offers protection from evil spirits.
Suet is a fat long used in British cooking. But in the U.S., this high-calorie, nutritious item is favored as bird food. Here's why.
The blue-footed booby is known as much for its comical mating dance as for its intensely colored blue feet.
From the fictional Hedwig in the Harry Potter series, to those that live wild and free, the snowy owl is one of the most captivating species of owl in the world.
By Wendy Bowman
Advertisement
There's more to Australia's kookaburra than the cheery song you learned as a kid, but what is it that makes the kookaburra laugh?
Macaws mate for life, can speak human words and have even been known to blush when delighted.
While the cheetah is the fastest land animal in the world, the peregrine falcon, a large predatory raptor, is by far the fastest bird on planet Earth.
By Wendy Bowman
Biochemically like a heron and anatomically similar to a pelican, the shoebill stork has been called "Monsterface" and even "Death Pelican." But wait until you hear the staccato rat-a-tat-tat of its booming machine-gun call.
By Carrie Tatro
Advertisement
Generations of cereal eaters grew up sharing the breakfast table with Toucan Sam, famous for following his long, colorful nose — but what's that bill for besides hawking cereal?
The energy efficiency of the Andean condor is the avian embodiment of the phrase "work smarter, not harder."
A remarkable partnership has formed over centuries between honeyguide birds and humans — and both species benefit when the honey is found and the comb is cracked.
This exotic bird could seriously injure or kill a person or a dog in an instant with its deadly claws.
By Wendy Bowman
Advertisement
Bird mobs are not roving gangs of thug birds. But they are bands of birds coming together to harass bigger predators. And the behavior is loud and raucous.
When a half-full plate of dinner sits before you and your overstuffed tummy, have you ever been told your eyes are too big for your stomach? The pelican's got a similar problem.
There are up to 26 species of penguins in the world, most of whom mate for life, and while none of them can fly, they swim like Olympic champs.
The national bird of the United States has taken on iconic status as the avian avatar of freedom, but its wingspan and steely gaze guarantee its status in the pecking order of prey birds as a symbol of strength.
Advertisement
The largest eagle in the world has a claw the size of a grizzly bear's, a leg the size of a human's and a very disapproving gaze.
Whether used in fashion or complicated mating rituals, peacock feathers drive the ladies crazy. But, what happens when a peacock loses his last feather? Will he become a fashion-don't?