Everything You Need to Know About Birds

82 Pages·2016·26.66 MB·English

by  Dorling Kindersley

s m i t h s o n i a n
Everything you
need to know about
BIR DS
Dedicated to Jim Cutting and the Lincoln Akerman School 4th grade class of 2015.
Editor Ishani Nandi
Art editor Nehal Verma
Project editor Sam Priddy
Senior editor Shatarupa Chaudhuri
Senior art editor Nishesh Batnagar
US editor Jill Hamilton
US senior editor Shannon Beatty
Managing editors Laura Gilbert,
Alka Thakur Hazarika
Managing art editors Diane Peyton Jones,
Smithsonian Institution
Romi Chakraborty
This trademark is owned by the Smithsonian Institution
DTP designer Bimlesh Tiwary
and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
CTS manager Balwant Singh
Consultant Craig Ludwig,
Pre-production Dragana Puvacic
Scientific Data Manager, Division of Birds,
Producer Srijana Gurung
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian.
Senior picture researcher Sumedha Chopra
Jacket designer Kartik Gera
Smithsonian Enterprises
Publisher Sarah Larter
Product Development Manager Kealy Gordon
Publishing director Sophie Mitchell
Licensing Manager Ellen Nanney
Art director Stuart Jackman
Vice President, Education and
Consultant Derek Harvey
Consumer Products Brigid Ferraro
Senior Vice President, Education and
First American edition, 2016
Consumer Products Carol LeBlanc
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
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CONTENTS
4 Foreword 44 A nest is not a home...
6 Global domination 46 Lady in the tower
8 All in the family 48 Where’s my mom?
10 Perching birds 50 A crèche for kings
12 Amazon rain forest 52 The right tool for the job
14 Bird evolution 54 Darwin’s birds
16 Find the difference 56 How much food?
18 Built for flight 58 Feed the birds
20 These feet were made for... 60 Chicken facts
22 You know it makes sense 62 Working birds
24 Life support systems 64 Diving birds
26 Feathers galore 66 What are you talking about?
28 Look closer... 68 Big-brained birds
30 Flight 70 King Vulture
32 Leonardo da Vinci 72 Back off!
34 Globetrotter 74 Record breakers
36 Leading the way 76 Working with birds
38 I wish I could fly... 78 Glossary and index
40 True blue 80 Credits
42 What’s inside an egg?
Masters of land, sea, and sky,
conquered
every corner
birds have of the
globe—from the frozen wastes of Antarctica to
highest mountains
the and driest deserts. If you look
out a window for a second or simply close your eyes,
the animals you’re most likely to see or hear first are
success
BIRDS secret
. The of their is
ability to f ly
the . The first birds were feathery
reptiles that took to the sky 150 million years ago.
We may never know how they discovered the
riding on air
knack of .
4
Perhaps they lived in trees and began gliding
from branch to branch. Or perhaps they scampered
leap
along the ground, making the occasional
swooping
into the air or down off a cliff.
power of flight
The gave birds the ultimate
escaping predators
means of and reaching new
habitats. Today there are around 10,000 different
species of bird ranging from bee-sized hummingbirds to
GIANTS
flightless and torpedo-shaped divers.
wonderful
Welcome to the
world of birds
.
5
Forest Grassland
N
O
I
T Birds have
T O
made a home
he greatest variety of birds pen pastures, grassy fields,
A
live in forests. Fruit, nuts, berries, seeds, prairies, or savannas… Grasslands of
on every
insects, and other small animals are easy all types provide lush feeding grounds
N pickings for food. Twigs and leaves are for seed-eating and insect-eating birds,
continent
ideal for nest-making, while tree trunks such as this finch. In winter, pasture
can make good solid nest holes for is used by grazing waterfowl such as
and in
those that can find a handy hollow. geese and swans.
I
almost every
M
habitat, from
O frozen polar Polar Wetland
regions to
D
dry deserts
W F
and open arm feathers are a must reshwater wetlands such as
when you live in polar regions. Most lakes and rivers attract a huge variety

l oceans. birds don’t stay all year round—they of birds, from ducks to songbirds to
a migrate to warmer, drier land during pelicans. The water teems with fish,
the winter—but some remain all year, algae, and other food, while reeds
b
such as the Antarctic’s Emperor Penguin. can be the perfect bedding material.
o
l
G
6
Scrubland Desert Mountain
W D T
ild, open areas of scrubland— eserts get less than 10 in he higher the altitude,
which occur where it is too wet for deserts (25 cm) of rainfall a year. Most birds the harder life is for birds. Large birds
but too dry for forests to grow—attract avoid these dry regions, but some species cover a wide area searching for food,
a huge variety of birds from nectar-eaters can cope with droughts. Sandgrouse while small birds peck for seeds and insects
to birds of prey. While there is plenty of soak up water in their breast feathers among the few plants. Perhaps the hardiest
food, there are few trees, so some birds and then fly back to their nest so the bird is the Red-billed Chough—it has been
nest on the ground. chicks can suck the feathers for a drink. seen at the summit of Mount Everest.
Ocean Coast Urban
N B I
o bird can spend all its life irds have settled on almost t is thought that there are more
at sea, but the Sooty Tern comes close, flying every stretch of coastline in the world. birds in cities than there are people. Some
over tropical oceans for two to three months Some birds come inland for food; others species spread there naturally, but two of the
before coming to land to breed. The Ancient fly out to sea in their search for fresh fish. most numerous—pigeons and starlings—
Murrelet, a member of the puffin family, Long-billed shorebirds probe for food in were introduced by people. Many roost
even raises its chicks entirely at sea. the coastal mud—but they might never on rooftops and window ledges—the ideal
actually see what it is they’re eating! substitutes for their natural habitat of cliffs.
7
THERE ARE MORE THAN 10,600 DIFFERENT SPECIES
us es as us wis ds wl sn sn els se so sn sn ye
naimTo Ostrich Rhe Eanmd Ki mebiar Waterfo iugneP ooL nd Petr berG gnimal oreH dn aPciel rp sdfo
es G a F a ir
i s B
r s k
a e
r
w s o
s
o o St
s r
t
s a
a b
C l
A
Birds are grouped in the class known as Aves.
This is the Latin word for bird, and gives us the
term “avian” when talking about something
being birdy. Birds are further classified into
204 families within 29 orders. The orders to the
left of the tree are said to be “primitive”—they
evolved first and have changed less over time
than the orders on the right. But all birds share
a common ancestry: dinosaurs.
8