All About Birds
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What's a bird?
Do you know what makes a bird different from other animals?
Blue Jay - bird
Karner Blue Butterfly - insect
Is it the pretty colors?
No -- other animals, like fish and insects, come in all sorts of beautiful colors too.
toucan - bird
platypus - mammal
Is it the bill or beak?
No -- other animals, like the duck billed platypus (a mammal), have bills too.
penguin egg
crocodile egg
Is it the eggs?
No -- other animals, like fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects and even some mammals, hatch from eggs as well.
bald eagle - bird
dragonfly - insect
Is it the wings?
No -- other animals, like insects and some mammals, have wings.
Then what is it!?
peacock - bird
Feathers!
All birds have feathers and birds are the only animals that do!
Feathers do many jobs for birds. Soft down keeps them warm, wing feathers allow flight and tail feathers are used for steering.
The color of the feathers can be used to hide the bird or to help the bird find a boyfriend or a girlfriend!
Scientific information: Birds are a scientific "class". The scientific name for the class is Aves.
Take a Break!
On-Line Activity:
Bird-Words Word Search