Birds Everywhere!

By guest blogger: Cassandra Lobo

I’ve never cared much for birds. Actually, I’ve always been quite terrified of them ever since I was about 6 years old. I’m not really sure what instilled this fear in me, but I do know that birds and I were never the best of friends. One time while I was at the park with my family, I was innocently feeding the ducks that were swimming in the pond. The ducks were somewhat tame and did not seem bothered that we were throwing chunks at bread towards them to eat. I spoke to soon. I threw my last piece of bread and without warning a mad duck came charging towards me. Not knowing what possessed this particular duck, I ran screaming. I was much more concerned with watching the duck chasing me then watching where I was going and all of a sudden …BOOM! I smacked right into a one of the swing set poles and flew backwards. Besides being humiliated in front of all of the other kids that were at the park that particular day, I ended up with a massive bump right in the center of my forehead! See why I don’t like birds?

My hate for birds recently lightened when I came home from college this summer. My mom had hung a beautiful Geranium plant on our deck right in front of our kitchen window. Within a few days, a Mourning Dove had claimed this particular Geranium as its new residence and assembled a nest. The Mourning Dove (whom I later on named House) had laid 2 small, bright white eggs. I found myself constantly catching a glimpse of House and her soon to be hatched babies. I researched Mourning Doves and learned quite a bit on them.


I gave the marvelous nest building credit to House, but in fact it is actually the male bird that creates the nest. I was also fascinated when I learned that both the male & female produce something called “dove milk” to feed their offspring. Adult Mourning Doves feed almost entirely on small seeds scattered on the ground. Also, Doves eat small pieces of stone or gravel, commonly known as "grit", which is stored in the gizzard and used to grind up the seeds they eat (How interesting!). I also learned that the male doves sit in the nest from the late afternoon and through the night, while the female dove sits in the nest throughout the morning and early afternoon.


Most serious birders create a list of all the bird species they've identified with absolute certainty during their whole lifetime of serious birding. This is list is called a “Life List”. I was not familiar with a “Life List” until I fell upon it on the “Born to Explore” facebook fan page. Although I myself have not yet created a “Life List”, my latest curiosity in birds has caused me to research birds more frequently and compile a list of interesting bird facts.

Here are some of the interesting facts I have found:

• The most yolks ever found in a single chicken's egg is nine.
• Pigeons can reach speeds up to 100 mph.
• The Royal Albatross' eggs take 79 days to hatch.
• A bird's heart beats 400 times per minute while resting and up to 1000 beats per minute while flying.

• Hummingbirds eat about every ten minutes, slurping down twice their body weight in nectar every day.
• Penguins, ostriches, and dodo birds are all birds that do not fly.
• The strike of the eagle talon is so powerful that its force is twice that of a rifle bullet.
• The only backwards and sideways flyer is the hummingbird
• A hawk's vision is so good that it can see a mouse from a height of one mile.