Birds are fascinating flying angels in the sky. They are beautiful and chirps with a pleasant sounds. Their voice can make your soul calm.

Some of the birds fly fast while some of them are good kick-boxers. Some birds can sing loud. And of course, we all know about parrots that can mimic humans.

So whether you are a bird watcher or a bird photographer or a curious soul, get ready to read about the coolest birds of the world.

10 interesting birds in the world

There are various amazing features and facts about birds. Here is a glimpse into their lifestyle.

Horned Screamer

Horned screamer likes to sing louder. And all the time he will sing only one song named- “Mo-coo-ca Mo-coo-ca”. And let me tell you, everyone in the jungle loves it!

Now, when it comes to the word “Horned” in his name, there is a reason that is clearly visible from the image. He has a horn. So it’s not only the rhinos from the mammals or unicorns from the fantasies that have horns. But, Some birds like horned screamers also have them.

The harmful things or you can say his weapons are his mighty spurs attached to his wings. These spurs are very useful in protecting his territories. Besides, they had also been proved effective in a fight with other males so as to win the love of his life partner for marriage.

Yup, you read it right, most of the horned screamer’s marriage bond stays forever till death parts them (but there were some cases, where Horned Screamer’s marriage stayed for one year only).

Anyway, they share their responsibility equally when it comes to nourishing their offspring. In the morning, the female sits over the eggs and at night the male does his duty of sitting over them.

Home and Appetite of Horned Screamer

Now, let’s discuss where he and his wife stay and what they eat.

They stay near the freshwater lagoons of Columbia. They also have relatives in Ecuador and south-central parts of Brazil. Favourite food of the horned screamers is delicious aquatic vegetables and crunchy grains.

Southern Ground Hornbill

If you are roaming through the grassland of South Africa, and suddenly you hear a lion’s roar from the trees, then you don’t have to worry. Because most of the time that’s just a naughty ground hornbill scaring you by roaring like a lion (funny, isn’t it?)

Anyway, he makes that sound through his wattle. If you are wondering what is a wattle? then it’s a red flesh of his throat.

 

 

 

Violet blue wattle means a beautiful dame and red means a handsome dude. There is one more interesting feature of the wattle. The dudes puff up their wattle to attract the dames.

(Now, after hearing the word, “wattle” for a lot of times, if you are thinking of eating “waffle”, then go get it. Well because after writing about wattle, I am seriously cravings for waffle. So I am going to eat it!)

If we humans had wings then we would have preferred to fly. But this is not the case with the southern ground hornbill. Because, even though they have wings, they would prefer to walk. They love walking in a group and finding food.

Home and Appetite of Southern Ground Hornbill

Let us see where our friend Southern Ground Hornbill lives. He lives with his wife and nine other members on a baobab tree in Kruger National Park.

Yup, it’s true, southern ground hornbill believes in the concept of “Staying In The Flock”.

They live in a flock of 11. The husband and wife take care of their offspring. Also, the husband along with the other 9 members (all males) protects the territory during the breeding season.

Anyway, now let us see what our friend southern ground hornbill of Kruger National Park and his flock eats. They love non-veg a lot! Hence they eat beetles, snails, toads, lizards, snakes, termites, squirrels, and grasshoppers. However, sometimes they even eat seeds of fruits (you know, for a change!)

Blue Jays

If you are wondering that only parrots have the ability to mimic. Then here is a mind-blowing fact for you. Besides the parrots, the blue jays also know the magic of mimicry. They can mimic birds as well as humans. They are the naughtiest birds on earth because they sometimes, just for fun, mimics the voice of Red-shouldered Hawk to scare other birds. But sometimes they are serious about them being around.

Blue Jays have plumage colored in blue, white, and black. They are one of the smartest birds on the planet.

How Male Blue Jay Impresses Female Blue Jay?

When the female jay is ready to have a life partner, she will organize a competition amongst all the male jays. In this competition, the female jay will fly high and all the male jays have to follow her. When she lands, male jays have to show her that they still have the energy to fly again. They have to do this by energetically bobbling their heads.

Yup, you read it right, the female blue jay will not stop the flying and landing process unless only one male blue jay is left with the energy to fly again with her. Thus in this way, the female blue jay chooses her life partner (incredible, isn’t it?)

Home and Appetite of Blue Jay

Now let us glimpse where our blue jay stays. He stays in the forests of the central part of North America. Some of his friends stay in the eastern part of it. They all are the cool bird species because they talk with each other in the ” Jay Jay” tune.

Albatross

Albatross is a bird which is one of the giant bird on the planet earth. He has huge wings that are so perfectly crafted that allows him to fly without even flapping and that too for long long miles.

Albatrosses have the ability to lock their 11 feet long wings in one position. Once the wings are locked, the winds take care of the efforts of flying albatross without making him flap his wings again.

Home and Appetite of Albatross

Now when it comes to his home. Our friend Albatross likes to stay in a cold climate. He likes snow and stays in the north pacific and southern ocean. And did I tell you? Albatrosses don’t like land much, most of the time they will spend their life gliding in the sky. They will visit the land for breeding purposes only. Yup, you read it right. They will sleep on waters or while flying (incredible, right?)

Let us see what albatrosses like to eat the most. Their favorite dishes are yummy squid and delicious krill. They also like to eat dead animals (amazing, if they are lucky, nature spoon-feeds them).

Grey Crowned Crane

Yup, you read it right. She has stiff golden feathers on her head that looks like a crown. Grey crowned crane also likes to dance with her three feet tall legs.

Grey crowned crane birds have amazing red gular sacs below their whitish-grey chin. The bird looks beautiful with color combinations of grey, white, black, and golden plumage.

They speak in “ya-oou-goo-lung” tongue with each other and with their kids they make sounds like “purr” “purr”.

Home and Appetite of Grey Crowned Crane

She lives in the wetland of eastern Africa with 30 other flocks. She also has friends in Southern Africa. The favorite food of grey crowned crane consists of grain, insects, snakes, potatoes, small fish, millet, soya beans, etc.

Bee Hummingbird

There are various kinds of hummingbirds hovering on earth, but the most talk about species is bee hummingbird. They are the world’s smallest bird on planet earth.

Did you know? female bee hummingbirds even though are the tiniest bird on the planet, are yet larger in size and heavier than the males.

The males are 5cm in size and 2 g in weight. Whereas females are 6.1 cm and 2.6 g in weight.

Her upper feathers are blue-green in color and lower feathers are pale grey. She also has cute white spots on the feathers of her tails. Her husband has blue upper body feathers and the lower body has greyish white feathers. She got impressed because of his reddish and pinkish glowing throat.

Home and Appetite of Bee Hummingbird

She lives with her husband in Cuba. Their favorite drink is Nectar. So they may visit mostly 1500 flowers in one day for their drink. The flowers give them nectar and in return, the tiny birds carry pollen and transfer to other flowers for pollination. For a change, bee hummingbirds also eat insects and spiders.

The following are the flower species from which they get their favorite nectar drink.

Bee hummingbirds do not flap their wings, instead, they rotate it. Their unique wings give them the ability to hoover at one spot. It also gives the flexibility to move forward and backward.

Bee hummingbirds work so hard that their heartbeats 1260 seconds per minute. They also have the ability to control their heart rate. At night, they go into torpour state that allows them to decrease their own heart rate to 50 beats per minute (remarkable, isn’t it?)

Common Ostrich

Common ostrich are good runners and did you know they are the world’s largest birds? The female ostrich are 6.2 I ft in height and male ostrich are 9 ft tall. They can run 31 to 43 miles in an hour.

Home and Appetite of Common Ostrich

They like to stay in desserts, savannas, and plains. They are mostly found in Africa’s south, west, and eastern parts.

They like to eat veg as well as non-veg food. They will eat seeds, flowers, grass, and shrubs. And in non-veg food, ostrich likes to eat lizards, snakes, and locusts. Thus, Ostrich is an omnivore.

Common ostrich swallows pebbles and sand. They do this because they don’t have teeth. Pebbles and sand help to grind their food so as to have perfect digestion. The digestion process takes place in the gizzard area of the stomach.

To impress female ostrich, the male ostrich performs a courtship dance (romantic, isn’t it?)

Southern Cassowary

The southern cassowary is the third largest bird in the world. Cassowaries can’t fly but they can jump up to 5 ft high.

As they can’t fly they are called Ratities.

Females are bigger than males. They have a height between 5 to 6.6 ft. Females also weight heavily than males. Their weight is 157 pounds, whereas males weight 121 pounds.

The southern cassowary is an amazing kickboxer. They have three sharp claws that have the ability to kill. The middle toe is extremely sharper as it is 5 inches longer.

They have black feathers and their heads and necks are colored in bright blue and red. They also have a fascinating helmet-like structure on their neck know as ” Casque”.

Home and Appetite of Southern Cassowary

They live in Queensland of Australia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. As they eat fruits and give out seeds, they are also known as “Gardeners of Rain forest”.

Indian Scops Owl

Owls are the fascinating birds in the Harry Potter world as well as in the real world. Let us see about Indian scops owl.

Indian scops owl lives in the forest as well as wherever the fruit trees like mango orchards are found. Wherever they live, they play rock concert at night by singing songs like – “Wuatt Wuatt” or “Ackackackack”.

They are 20 to 25 cm in size and 125 to 153 gm in weight. The upper head tufts of Indian scops owl is brown or grey. Their eyes are orange and the face is white.

Home and Appetite of Indian Scops Owl

They are found in South Asia and majority of them are found in India. Jim Corbett National Park, located near the Nainital hill station at the magnificent Himalaya’s foothills is perfect place to see these amazing Indian Scops owl.

Their favorite food dishes consist of tasty beetles, grasshoppers, lizards, mice, and small birds.

Scarlet Macaw

The scarlet macaw is one of the smartest birds in the world. They can learn to mimic many voices as well are able to guess colours and shapes perfectly.

They have colourful bright red plumage and are the biggest member of the macaw family. Their back feathers are coloured in blue and their upper wings are coloured in yellow. The wings also have a touch of green colour at their tips. They can run fly at a speed of 35 mph

Scarlet macaw has a strong beak whose upper part is coloured in white and the tip is coloured in black.

Home and Appetite of Scarlet Macaw

One of the world’s best talking parrot lives in Central America, South America, and Mexico.

Scarlet macaw likes to eat exotic fruits, healthy leaves, and crunchy seeds. For a break, they also eat insects.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2020 Prithviraj Shirole

Prithviraj Shirole (author) from India on July 28, 2020:

Hi Angela,

Yeah, hummingbirds are cute. Thanks for liking the article 🙂

AngelaJJ on July 28, 2020:

Humming birds are my favorite 🙂 . Great Article!

Prithviraj Shirole (author) from India on July 26, 2020:

Hello Liza,

Yes. ostrich, hummingbird, scarlet macaw, and blue jay are fascinating birds. Thanks for voting and i am glad you liked the article. It keeps me motivating to write more. Thank you so much 🙂

Liza from Malaysia + US on July 25, 2020:

Hi Prithviraj, birds are fascinating. From the list, I recognized a few of them, for example, the ostrich, hummingbird, and scarlet macaw. My favorite from the list is the Blue Jay, (I voted) it looks so pretty! Thanks for sharing an informative article on these birds.

Prithviraj Shirole (author) from India on July 22, 2020:

Hi Danny Sir,

Yup, scarlet macaw are lovely birds. I am glad you loved the article. Thank you so much.

Prithviraj Shirole (author) from India on July 22, 2020:

Hi Ankita,

I am glad you enjoyed the facts and photos. Thank you so much for appriciating the article.

Danny from India on July 22, 2020:

They are wonderful exotic birds. I like the Macaw among them. Nice article Sir.

Ankita B on July 22, 2020:

Great article on some of the wonderful birds. I loved the photos along with the fascinating facts you have shared.