Acorn Woodpeckers drill thousands of tiny holes in trees and wooden structures to store acorns. Photo from Ingrid Taylar, Flickr.

News Release

With more than 9,000 species inhabiting every climate on Earth, from arctic tundras to tropical rainforests, birds exhibit behaviors and abilities that continue to surprise scientists and bird lovers alike.

Here are 14 facts about 14 members of the avian world:

Ravens Rival Parrots In Mimicry

Captive ravens can imitate human speech and everyday sounds—some even outperform parrots. In the wild, they’ve been observed mimicking predators like wolves to attract them to carcasses.

Ostriches Have The Biggest Eyes On Land

An ostrich’s eye is roughly the size of a billiard ball — larger than its brain, making it the largest of any land animal.

Cardinals Bathe In Ants

Cardinals engage in a puzzling behavior known as “anting,” smearing ants on their feathers. Scientists theorize the formic acid may help control parasites.

Bassian Thrushes Use Flatulence To Forage

Native to Australia, Bassian thrushes have an unusual hunting technique: they fart to rustle leaf litter and expose hidden worms.

Acorn Woodpeckers Are Nut Hoarders

These birds drill thousands of tiny holes in trees and wooden structures to store acorns — sometimes up to 50,000 in a single “granary tree.”

Penguins Wear Built-In Camouflage

A penguin’s black-and-white coloring serves a dual purpose: blending into the ocean depths when viewed from above and disappearing into the bright surface from below.

A Hoatzin in the Amazon jungle. Photo by Murray Foubister, Wikimedia Commons.

Hoatzin Chicks Hatch With Claws

Young hoatzin birds sport two claws on each wing. These prehistoric-looking features help them climb trees and escape danger before they’re mature enough to fly.

Burrowing Owls Use Dung As Bait

To attract dung beetles, one of their favorite snacks, burrowing owls decorate their burrow entrances with animal droppings.

Calliope Hummingbirds Are Tiny But Bold

Weighing just 1/10 of an ounce, Calliope hummingbirds are the smallest in the U.S., yet they fiercely defend their territory, even from hawks.

Swiftlet Nests Are A Delicacy

Some swiftlets construct nests entirely from hardened saliva. These nests are harvested for bird’s nest soup, a prized but flavorless delicacy in parts of Asia.

Downy Woodpeckers Help Brain Research

Scientists study downy woodpeckers’ ability to absorb constant head trauma without injury, hoping to apply insights to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Harris’s Hawks Hunt Like Wolves

Nicknamed “wolves of the sky,” Harris’s hawks hunt in cooperative groups, a rare behavior among raptors.

Pied-Billed Grebes Go Undercover

When threatened, pied-billed grebes compress their feathers to reduce buoyancy and slip beneath the water’s surface, evading predators in “submarine mode.”

Kiwis Are ‘Honorary Mammals’

These flightless New Zealand birds have hair-like feathers, bone marrow, and nostrils on the tips of their beaks, traits that led some scientists to dub them “honorary mammals.”