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Birds

Birds are the only living dinosaurs. Every one of the ~11,000 species has feathers, a toothless beak, and lays hard-shelled eggs. Most fly, but some — like penguins and ostriches — have traded flight for swimming or running.

21 guides in this group

Birds VU Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica The Atlantic puffin is a small seabird that flies underwater to catch fish, carries dozens of them crosswise in its bill, and spends most of the year alone far out on the open ocean. Read the guide →
Birds LC Barn Owl Tyto alba The barn owl hunts in total darkness by sound alone, guided by its heart-shaped face and lopsided ears. Learn how its silent flight works and why farmers put up nest boxes for it. Read the guide →
Birds VU North Island Brown Kiwi Apteryx mantelli The kiwi is a chicken-sized flightless New Zealand bird that behaves like a mammal — it forages by smell at night, has whiskers and heavy bones, and lays a huge egg for its size. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Raven Corvus corax The common raven is one of the most intelligent animals on Earth — a large black bird that makes tools, plans for the future, holds grudges, plays in the wind, and solves problems that stump apes. Read the guide →
Birds LC Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus The flamingo is a filter-feeding wading bird that eats with its head upside down, gets its pink colour entirely from its food, and breeds in colonies tens of thousands strong on caustic salt lakes. Read the guide →
Birds LC Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua The gentoo penguin is the fastest bird in the water, hitting 36 km/h underwater, and it courts its mate with a gift of pebbles. Learn how gentoos live at the edge of Antarctica. Read the guide →
Birds LC Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos The golden eagle is one of the largest and most widespread birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere, a mountain hunter that stoops on prey at highway speeds. Learn how it lives and hunts. Read the guide →
Birds EN Kea Nestor notabilis The kea is the world's only alpine parrot — an olive-green New Zealand bird known for tearing apart cars, solving puzzles in teams, and a "play" call that makes other kea act playful. Read the guide →
Birds LC King Penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus The king penguin is the second-largest penguin, with the longest breeding cycle of any bird — over a year per chick. Learn how its brown, woolly-looking chicks survive a sub-Antarctic winter. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ostrich Struthio camelus The ostrich is the largest and heaviest bird alive, the fastest thing on two legs, and the layer of the biggest egg of any living animal. Learn how a bird this size survives on the African plains. Read the guide →
Birds LC Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on the planet, hitting nearly 390 km/h in a hunting dive. Learn how its body survives that speed and how it came back from near-extinction. Read the guide →
Birds LC Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus The pileated woodpecker is a crow-sized red-crested bird that hammers rectangular holes deep into dead trees to reach carpenter ants, and its abandoned cavities house dozens of other forest species. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris The ruby-throated hummingbird weighs about as much as a penny, beats its wings 50 times a second, and crosses the Gulf of Mexico non-stop — a 800-kilometre flight over open water. Read the guide →
Birds EN Secretary Bird Sagittarius serpentarius The secretary bird is a long-legged African raptor that hunts on foot, killing snakes and other prey by stamping with a force five times its body weight, delivered in a fraction of a second. Read the guide →
Birds VU Shoebill Balaeniceps rex The shoebill is a towering grey swamp bird with a huge clog-shaped bill that it uses to catch lungfish and baby crocodiles. It stands motionless for hours, then strikes in a full-body lunge. Read the guide →
Birds LC Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius The southern cassowary is a huge flightless rainforest bird with a bony head casque and dagger-clawed feet. It is the only animal that can spread some large rainforest seeds. Read the guide →
Birds LC Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura The turkey vulture is a wide-ranging American scavenger that finds carcasses by smell — a rare skill among birds — soars for hours without flapping, and defends itself by projectile vomiting. Read the guide →
Birds VU Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans The wandering albatross has the longest wingspan of any living bird and can glide for days without flapping, circling the globe on the wind. Learn how it flies so efficiently and why it is Vulnerable. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus The bald eagle is a fish-hunting sea eagle and a rare conservation success — back from near-extinction in the US. Learn about its huge nests, its eyesight, and why it isn't actually bald. Read the guide →
Birds VU Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus The snowy owl is a heavy, day-hunting owl of the Arctic tundra that lives and breeds on lemmings. Learn how it survives the cold, why some years it flies far south, and why numbers are falling. Read the guide →
Birds NT Emperor Penguin Aptenodytes forsteri The emperor penguin breeds through the Antarctic winter, the harshest conditions any bird faces. Learn how males incubate eggs at −40 °C and why sea ice loss threatens the species. Read the guide →