National Bird Day. 10 things you might not know about birds.
- There are about 18,000 species of bird in the world. The British Ornithologists Union estimates that there are 628 species of birds in the UK. In the US, there are 1120 different species of birds.
- National Geographic studies suggest that the world bird population ranges from 50 billion to 430 billion. The most common type of bird is the passerines, or perching birds. Their common characteristic is having three toes pointing to the front and one toe to the back so they can perch on things. Many of them are also songbirds.
- The largest bird in the world is the ostrich. They can grow to be up to 2.7 metres tall with a wingspan of up to 2 metres. They lay the largest Eggs, weighing in at up to 1.5 kilograms and about the size of a melon. They also have the largest Eyes of any land based creature. Their eyes are the size of billiard balls and are bigger than their brains.
- The smallest bird is the Bee Hummingbird, which measures a minute 5.5 centimetres long and weighs no more than 1.9 grams. Needless to say, it also lays the smallest eggs. Their eggs are about the size of a Pea.
- The fastest bird on earth is the Peregrine Falcon. It can reach an Airspeed of 389 k/h (242 mph) when diving for its prey.
- The most common bird in the world is the Chicken. The rarest is a type of duck, the Madagascar Pochard. There are only about 25 of them in the world.
- The Pitohui of Papua New Guinea is the only known bird in the world which is poisonous. The venom is in the skin and feathers.
- All birds have feathers, whether or not they can fly. No other type of creature has feathers, only birds. Birds spend around 9% of their time every day grooming their feathers and preening, because their feathers are vital for survival. They also have hollow bones which make them lighter which helps them to fly.
- Birds don’t have teeth. They swallow their food whole and a muscular organ in their stomach called the gizzard grinds it up ready for digestion.
- Birds evolved from a group of Dinosaurs called Theropods. The Tyrannosaurus rex belonged to this group, so birds are the nearest living relatives to a T Rex. The earliest known bird is the Archaeopteryx which lived around 150 million years ago in the Jurassic period.
Character Birthday
Unicorn(James Lovell): Scottish geneticist, founder and first leader of the Freedom League superhero team, based in Birmingham, England. Appears in Running in the Family, Eternal Flame, Who’s That Girl. An accident in a science lab gave him his powers which include flight, hypersenses and the ability to shoot energy bolts from his hands. He has been a mentor to many young heroes and is the leading expert in genetic variance and superpowers. He founded a database of people with powers. Although he handed over leadership of the team to Target, he remained an active member for many years. When he grew older and retired from active duty, he returned to his studies full time and works for the Freedom League as an advisor.Running in the Family
An alien craft approaches Earth. The alien on board is a fugitive, fleeing from an arranged marriage to freedom on our world. She befriends James, a genetics student, and shares her knowledge about the future of the human race with him.
A science experiment gone wrong gifts James with superhuman abilities; but they come at a price, leading him to mentor others like himself. He founds a group of amateur heroes called the Freedom League.
The Freedom League suffers a string of losses and tragedies; it seems doomed to failure; but one of its members, Peter Mayfield, has vowed to form a group of his own. He is determined to keep his vow, despite having lost Rosemary, the one person he wanted by his side to help him.
Lizzie Hopkins is a talented young athlete and dancer. Peter sees her in action and guesses her exceptional abilities are far more than they seem. He offers to train and mentor Lizzie - but her mother is violently opposed to his suggestion.
As soon as she is old enough, Lizzie takes matters into her own hands; she seeks out Peter and his group for herself. She soon makes a discovery which shakes her world at its very foundations. Her search for the truth will resolve many unanswered questions, but it will also stir up old heartbreaks dating back to the Freedom League's early days.
An alien craft approaches Earth. The alien on board is a fugitive, fleeing from an arranged marriage to freedom on our world. She befriends James, a genetics student, and shares her knowledge about the future of the human race with him. A science experiment gone wrong gifts James with superhuman abilities; but they come at a price, leading him to mentor others like himself. He founds a group of amateur heroes called the Freedom League.
The Freedom League suffers a string of losses and tragedies; it seems doomed to failure; but one of its members, Peter Mayfield, has vowed to form a group of his own. He is determined to keep his vow, despite having lost Rosemary, the one person he wanted by his side to help him.
Lizzie Hopkins is a talented young athlete and dancer. Peter sees her in action and guesses her exceptional abilities are far more than they seem. He offers to train and mentor Lizzie - but her mother is violently opposed to his suggestion.
As soon as she is old enough, Lizzie takes matters into her own hands; she seeks out Peter and his group for herself. She soon makes a discovery which shakes her world at its very foundations. Her search for the truth will resolve many unanswered questions, but it will also stir up old heartbreaks dating back to the Freedom League's early days.
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