Random Most Interesting Birds on Earth (24 items)

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  (#1) Philippine Eagle

  • Pithecophaga jefferyi

  This is the world's longest flying bird — about three feet from beak to tail. It's so huge that it eats monkeys.
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  (#2) Kiwi

  • Apteryx

  The flightless kiwi is part of the family that includes ostriches and emus, despite the fact that it's only the size of a chicken. The kiwi has the largest egg to body size ratio of any bird — it lays an egg that is roughly 6 times the size of a chicken egg.

  A male and female kiwi will remain mates for about 20 years, and the male is usually the one who incubates the eggs.
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  (#3) King of Saxony Bird of Paradise

  • Pteridophora alberti

  The King of Saxony bird of paradise has magnificent head feathers that can grow up to twice its body length. The head feathers can be 50 cm long, while the bird itself is only about 22cm long.
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  (#4) Ribbon-tailed Astrapia

  • Astrapia mayeri

  The ribbon tailed astrapia has the largest tail-length-to-body ratio of any bird. The bird's body is usually about one foot long, while the tail feathers are three feet long. Its body looks a bit like the body of a peacock. The long tail is only found in the male bird.
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  (#5) Peregrine Falcon

  • Falco peregrinus

  The peregrine falcon is the world's fastest animal. It can reach speeds of 200 miles per hour by soaring to immense heights, and then tucking in its wings and plummeting to earth like a torpedo. No other creature is more aerodynamic.
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  (#6) Golden Pheasant

  • Chrysolophus pictus

  The golden pheasant is native to western China, and it looks like it came straight out of a Chinese cultural museum, with its orange and blue fan-like cape, and its golden crest, and its bright red body. These birds are often hunted for sport or food.
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  (#7) Sri Lanka Frogmouth

  • Batrachostomus moniliger

  The Sri Lanka frogmouth is very appropriately named. It has a large, wide mouth just like a frog. It only reaches about nine inches long, and uses its wide mouth to hunt insects at night.
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  (#8) Kakapo

  • Strigops habroptila

  The kakapo is the only flightless parrot in the world, and it's also nocturnal, which is extremely uncommon for parrots. It's critically endangered because of predators introduced to its home (New Zealand), and because it only mates about three times a decade, when the fruit of the rimu tree is abundant.
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  (#9) Kea

  • Nestor notabilis

  The kea is the world's only truly alpine parrot, but that's not why they're famous. They're notorious pests because they will try eating literally anything. They're well-known for trying to eat cars, and not being discouraged easily.
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  (#10) Blue-footed Booby

  • Sula nebouxii

  The blue-footed booby obviously gets the first half of its name from its bright blue feet, which it shows off during mating rituals. The second half of its name is thought to come from the Spanish word "bobo," which means "stupid."

  There are about a half a dozen species of boobies, and the European settlers probably thought they were all stupid when they saw them bumbling around on land, where they are least graceful.
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  (#11) Magnificent Frigatebird

  • Fregata magnificens

  The magnificent frigatebird is known for its impressive red throat pouch, which can be inflated like a balloon. Only the males have this feature, and they only display it during mating season.
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  (#12) Hoatzin

  • Ophisthocomus hoazin

  The hoatzin is known locally as the "stinkbird" because it smells kind of like manure. This stench is a product of the bird's digestive system, which is more like a cow's than like any other bird's. The hoatzin eats fruits, leaves, and flowers, and those plants are broken down by bacteria in its foregut.

  This bird can't fly that well because its huge gut crowds muscles that would be used for flight.
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  (#13) The Atlantic Puffin

  The Atlantic puffin looks like a cross between a parrot, a penguin, and a duck. They are actually not closely related to penguins, but instead are part of a separate family of great swimmers and divers called the auks. The Atlantic puffin is often called the "clown of the sea" because of its brightly colored bill.
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  (#14) Cassowary

  • Casuarius

  Cassowaries are a large, flightless birds, closely related to emus. They are typically timid, but are known to become aggressive if provoked. Despite their regal look, they can be very dangerous birds, able to charge at up to 30 miles per hour and kill aggressors with their sharp claws.
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  (#15) Andean Cock-of-the-rock

  • Rupicola peruvianus

  The Andean cock of the rock has a bright orange head, neck, chest and back, which stands in stark contrast to its black and gray wings and tail. Like most bird species, only the male is endowed with the bright colors.
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  (#16) Shoebill

  • Balaeniceps rex

  The shoebill is a large bird, with an average height of five feet, and a bill that's 7.5 to 9.5 inches long. They hunt snakes, lizards, amphibians, and rats, using their enormous bills to crush their prey in a single bite.
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  (#17) Emperor Penguin

  • Aptenodytes forsteri

  You may have heard the incredible story of the emperor penguin in the 2005 film, March of the Penguins. These penguins lay their eggs in Antarctica, further south than any other species, in the bitter winter. They also defy gender stereotypes — the dads make nests out of their feet and huddle together to keep warm, while the moms go get the food.
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  (#18) Long-wattled Umbrellabird

  • Cephalopterus penduliger

  You can guess where this bird gets its name. The male has a wattle extending from its chest which can reach up to 35 cm long (the bird itself is only 50 cm long). It inflates its wattle during courtship. The female birds are smaller and have smaller wattles.
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  (#19) Oilbird

  • Steatornis caripensis

  The oilbird is the world's only flying, nocturnal, fruit-eating bird. It finds its food by echolocation, like bats. It's called the oilbird because it has a high concentration of oil in its body. People used to hunt them and boil them to extract their oil for fuel. 
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  (#20) California Condor

  • Gymnogyps californianus

  The humble California condor has earned its fame because of its homeliness. Its head is completely bald, and its feathers look like a tacky fur coat your grandma bought in 1942. It's a scavenger that usually doesn't hunt, but it's also the largest bird in North America, with an impressive 10-foot wingspan.
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  (#21) Great Frigate Bird

  • Fregata minor

  Great frigate birds are capable of staying in flight for up to 56 days, without ever landing. They can do this partly thanks to having the lowest "wing load" (least amount of body weight distributed over the total area of their wings) of all birds.

  Frigate birds soar in roller coaster-style loops, making atmospheric energy and weather patterns work for them, instead of flapping like crazy.
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  (#22) Superb Bird of Paradise

  • Lophorina superba

  You may have seen the superb bird of paradise in its cameo on Planet Earth. The population of this species has an usually low female-to-male ratio, so males have to compete fiercely to attract mates. During their courtship display, the male puffs out his bright blue-green breast feathers, raises his black cape feathers, and dances around the female. A female bird rejects 15 to 20 males before settling on a mate.
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  (#23) Arctic Tern

  • Sterna paradisaea

  The Arctic tern makes the world's longest migration: all the way from Greenland to Antarctica every winter, and then back again in the spring. The birds only weigh about four ounces, but they travel about 44,000 miles every year.
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  (#24) Marabou Stork

  • Leptoptilos crumeniferus

  Here's another bird that won't be entering any beauty pageants. It has a bald head and neck, and unlike most storks, it finds food by scavenging corpses. These two features are actually connected; the featherless head is better suited for feeding from a rotting body.

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