Birds

What is a bird?

Birds are vertebrates. Look at the skeleton of a bird below. Can you see the backbone?

Birds have the following things in common:

• They have feathers: Birds are the only animals with feathers.
• They lay eggs with a hard shell
• They have hollow bones: A bird’s bones are hollow and light. This means that many birds are light enough to fly. 
• They are warm blooded: The body temperature of a bird remains the same even when the temperature of its environment changes.
• They have two legs and two wings: Athough all birds have wings, not all birds can fly. 

Examples of birds

All animals with feathers are birds including parrots, hummingbirds, hawks, chickens, pigeons and ostriches. Some pictures of birds can be seen below.

_{This bird is a severe macaw, a type of parrot.}

_{This kingfisher dives into water to catch small fish.}

_{Hummingbirds are some of the smallest birds in the world.}

_{Penguins are birds which cannot fly. They use their wings for swimming.}