Miscellaneous Birds

Orange birds are some of the most brilliantly colored creatures in the avian world! Whether you're strolling through mixed forests or watching your backyard feeder, these fiery-feathered wonders demand attention.

Brown birds are often ground-dwelling, foraging, nesting birds. In Native American cultures, birds are also sometimes seen as messengers between the spirit world and the physical realm, so a brown bird could be seen as bringing a connection to Earth, home, reliability, simplicity and consistency.

By Ada Tseng

Black and white birds may not be as vibrant as bright-colored birds, but in many parts of the world, birds such as magpies symbolize luck, intelligence or mystery. Black-and-white seabirds such as penguins and razorbills have also become icons of climate change awareness.

By Ada Tseng

The kiwi bird: a small, flightless bird with some seriously strange features! Native to New Zealand, this bird in the world is unlike any other, with hair-like kiwi feathers, nostrils at the tip of its beak and a highly developed sense of smell.

By Zach Taras

Birds of prey are some of nature’s most fascinating creatures, but when it comes to buzzard vs. vulture species, things can get a little confusing.

By Zach Taras

Two of the largest flightless birds on the planet may look similar but they typically live on different continents and have evolved unique adaptations for survival. How are your emu vs. ostrich identification skills?

By Talon Homer

The most colorful birds come in such dazzling hues that they are often the subject of artists and photographers.

By Ada Tseng

Flightless species of birds (such as ostriches, which are the largest living birds) tend to outsize any of the largest birds in the sky. Bigger sizes, while a liability in the air, can keep flightless birds safer on land.

By Ada Tseng

The most dangerous bird species are also some of the most beautiful. These seemingly innocent creatures can pack a punch — or peck — that you definitely want to avoid.

By Talon Homer

Hummingbird feeders are a great way to help those little fliers, but to feed them responsibly, you need to keep your feeders clean and fill them correctly.

By Jesslyn Shields

They are all huge, but does it surprise you that none of the nine biggest birds can fly?

By Jesslyn Shields

Budgies are the same species as parakeets and make fabulous pets - and, yes, they love to talk!

By Laurie L. Dove

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

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.

By Patty Rasmussen

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.

By Jesslyn Shields

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?

By Patty Rasmussen & Mack Hayden

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 & Zach Taras

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?

By Jesslyn Shields

This exotic bird could seriously injure or kill a person or a dog in an instant with its deadly claws.

By Wendy Bowman & Marie Look

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.

By Shanna Freeman

The parrots of the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco are legendary, but how did they get there?

By Jesslyn Shields

There's a lot of conversation around what we should be feeding our backyard hummingbird visitors, so we threw the question, along with others, to an expert.

By Jamie Allen

A French theme park has trained a crew of six rooks to pick up after its messy guests.

By Jesslyn Shields

Thanks to new technology, researchers have discovered that the common swift flies 10 months a year without landing, setting a world record for uninterrupted time aloft.

By Jesslyn Shields & Mack Hayden

Ruby-throated hummingbirds migrate annually from the U.S. all the way to Central America. How often would one need to stop? A new study reveals amazing abilities.

By Christopher Hassiotis & Zach Taras