Cool Stuff You Probably Didn’t Know About Birds

 Think you know everything about birds? These might surprise you:

1. One of the oldest parrots in the world was Cookie, a Major Mitchell’s cockatoo that lived to be 83 before passing away in 2016. Cookie was a resident of the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago for most of his life, having joined the zoo’s “original animal collection” in 1934. According to staff, Cookie “received many cards, letters, toys and pictures from admirers around the world” prior to his death.
2. When chickens have red earlobes, they tend to lay brown eggs. In some cases, chickens with red earlobes lay green or blue eggs.
3. The green woodpecker eats roughly 2,000 ants a day.
4. Skilled at imitating human sounds (they can even mimic the sound of a toilet flushing), the raven is also adept at communicating through gesturing.
5. Speaking of mimicking – the northern mockingbird can imitate the sound of a car alarm, phone, doorbell, and more. They make so much noise, their scientific name (Mimus polyglottos) means “mimic with many tongues.”
6. There are around 18,000 bird species in existence and the number continues to grow.
7. The chicken is the most common bird species in the world. It’s estimated that there are over 22 billion chickens in existence.
8. When swans mate, they mate for life.
9. The bee hummingbird is only 2 inches long, making it the smallest bird species on record. It’s called the bee hummingbird because of its comparable size to an actual bee.
10. In 1973, a vulture collided with an aircraft flying 37,000 feet over Abijan in Africa. Despite engine damage, the pilot managed to land the plane safely.
11. The very first domesticated bird was the goose. While domestic geese can live for 20-25 years, wild geese are less fortunate, checking out around 10-25 years after hatching.
12. Donald Duck has been one of Disney’s most beloved characters for over 80 years. Other popular feathered friends include Toucan Sam (of Froot Loops cereal fame), Sam the Eagle (from the Muppets), and Woody Woodpecker (another cartoon character with a long and rich history).
13. Kiwis have a strong sense of smell, enabling them to hunt for food despite poor eyesight. They’re also the only known birds with nostrils.
14. Owls can’t move their eyes, so they move their head, instead. In fact, owls can move their head almost 270 degrees!