This document discusses the key characteristics of birds. It describes how feathers help birds stay warm and dry and enable flight. It explains the processes of preening and molting. It details the two main types of feathers, down and contour feathers. It discusses birds' fast digestion, ability to fly, raising of baby birds, and different kinds of birds such as flightless, water, perching, and birds of prey.

1. Birds

2. Characteristics of Birds
 Feathers
 Help birds stay dry and warm,
attract mates, and fly

Preening and Molting

Preening: the act of grooming
and maintaining their feathers

Preening spreads oil over the
feathers, which makes them
waterproof

Molting: process of shedding
old feathers and growing new
ones

Most birds shed once a year

3. 
Two kinds of feathers
 Down feathers fluffy
feathers that lie next to the
bird’s body

Keep birds warm by
trapping body heat next to
body
 Contour feathers stiff
feathers that cover a bird’s body
and wings

Colors and shapes attract
mates

Streamlined surface helps
bird fly

4.  Fast Digestion

Birds eat a lot because they need a lot
of energy

Birds eat seeds, insects, nuts, and
meat because they are high in
protein

Modern birds don’t have teeth, so they
can’t chew

Food goes from the mouth to the crop,
which stores food until it goes to the
gizzard the gizzard has small
stones which grind up the food so
that it can be easily digested

5.  Flying

Birds have air sacs attached to their lungs
to store air

Most birds have large eyes and excellent
eyesight; birds such as hawks and eagles
can see 8 times better than humans can see!

Wing shape is related to how a bird flies-
short wings for quick turning, long wings for
soaring

6. 
Rigid skeleton allows a bird to
move its wings efficiently

Powerful flight muscle attached to a
large breastbone called a keel

Birds have hollow bones so that
they are light

Getting off the ground
 Air moving around a bird’s wing
changes in speed and
direction, creating an upward
force that keeps a bird in the air
 “lift” is an upward force on a
bird’s wings

7.  Raising Baby Birds

Most birds build nests to lay
their eggs

Brooding act of sitting on
eggs and using body heat to
keep them warm

8. 
Some birds are active soon after
birth; others are weak and helpless
 Precocial active chicks,
such as chickens and ducks;
can stand up and follow
parents around
 Altricial have no feathers and
eyes are closed when born;
cannot walk or fly at birth, such
as hawks and songbirds

9. Kinds of Birds
 Flightless birds

Most do not have
the large keel that
anchors a birds’
flight muscles

Some run quickly
to move around

Others are skilled
swimmers

Examples:
penguins, kiwi,
ostrich

10.  Water birds
 Usually have webbed
feet for swimming or
long legs for wading

Examples:
cranes, ducks,
geese, swans,
pelicans

11.  Perching birds

Have special adaptations
for resting on branches

Its feet automatically
close around a branch

Even if it falls asleep, its
feet will stay closed—it
won’t fall off the branch

Examples: chickadees,
parrots, robins, sparrows

12.  Birds of Prey

Hunt and eat other
vertebrates

Have sharp claws on their
feet and a sharp, curved
beak

Also have very good
vision

Most hunt during the day,
but most owls hunt at night

Examples: owls, osprey,
hawks, vultures

13. Cool facts about an Eagle!
1) Eagles have very good vision, they
can spot another eagle up to 50 miles
away! (That’s much better than ours!)

14. Eagles
 2) Eagles are fearless
- They hunt after things MUCH larger
than themselves by using strategy

15. Eagles
 3) Eagles are tenacious
- When a storm comes, they will fly
towards it when others fly away. They
will take advantage of the stronger
winds to fly higher

16. Eagles
 4) Eagles are high flyers
- they can fly up to 10,000 ft. high!

17. Eagles
 5) Eagles NEVER eat dead meat
- They only eat meat from the prey they
kill themselves. They never scavenge.
They want freshly killed meat.

18. Eagles
 6) Eagles possess vitality
 - When the reach the age of 30, they
retreat to a mountain top to rejuvenate
themselves, otherwise they would grow
weak and die. They knock off their own
beak by banging it against a rock, pluck
out their talons and feathers and wait
for it all to grow back.

19. Eagles…
 7) Eagles nurture their young
ones.
- they are vicious creatures but very
gentle to their young. They teach them
to fly. If they do not learn or they are
weak…they knock them off a cliff.