Birds
The smallest bird is the bee hummingbird. It is just 6cm long.
Bee hummingbird
Some of the bones in a bird’s skeleton are light. The bones are light because they are like empty tubes. This makes birds light enough to fly.
Some birds spend a lot of time on water. They are called water birds. Ducks, geese and flamingos are water birds. They have webbed feet to help them swim. |
Webbed feet
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Flamingos
All birds:
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These big eggs were laid by big birds. Small birds lay much smaller eggs.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL via Wikimedia Commons
Birds lay their eggs in a nest. They sit on their eggs to keep them warm. The baby bird inside the egg must be kept warm so it can grow properly.
A swan has a big nest.
A baby bird is called a chick. When the chicks hatch from the eggs the adult birds must feed them.
This bird is feeding its chicks an insect.
After just a few weeks the chicks are ready to fly and find their own food.
A chick is leaving its nest.
Birds eat different kinds of food. Small birds eat seeds, insects or worms. Some birds eat fish. Some birds are called birds of prey. They eat bigger animals such as mice and small birds.
A kestrel is a bird of prey that lives in England.
It catches its prey with its curved claws. It likes to eat mice.
The shape of a bird's beak is a clue to what it eats.
Different kinds of birds
Robins eat worms, seeds, fruit and insects.
The kingfisher has a long beak for snapping up fish.
The macaw has a strong beak.
By Luc Viatour. Licensed under CC BY 2.0
Its beak can crack hard nuts.
The acorn woodpecker eats acorns.
It pecks holes in trees to keep acorns for winter.
The kiwi is an odd bird that lives in New Zealand.
It cannot fly because it has tiny wings. The wings are just 3 cm long. They are hidden under its feathers.
The kiwi is as big as a chicken but the kiwi lays much bigger eggs than chickens – see the egg picture on this page.
The kiwi is as big as a chicken but the kiwi lays much bigger eggs than chickens – see the egg picture on this page.