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Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5.5 cm (2.2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds.
Subfossil remains and remnants of the birds that were brought to Europe in the 17th century show that dodos were very large birds, measuring about 62.6–75 cm (24.6–29.5 in) in height. [42] [43] The bird was sexually dimorphic; males were larger and had proportionally longer beaks. Weight estimates have varied from study to study.
[7] [8] While most hummingbirds do not migrate, the rufous hummingbird has one of the longest migrations among birds, traveling twice per year between Alaska and Mexico, a distance of about 3,900 miles (6,300 km). Hummingbirds split from their sister group, the swifts and treeswifts, around 42 million years ago. [9]
Seabirds generally live longer, breed later and have fewer young than other birds, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in colonies , varying in size from a few dozen birds to millions.
The beak allows the bird to reach deep into tree-holes to access food unavailable to other birds, and also to ransack suspended nests built by smaller birds. A toucan's tongue is long (up to 15 cm or 6 in), narrow, grey, and singularly frayed on each side, adding to its sensitivity as a tasting organ.
The species is one of the first North American birds to lay eggs, and normally has two to three broods per breeding season, which lasts from April to July. [ 16 ] The nest is most commonly located 1.5–4.5 m (4.9–14.8 ft) above the ground in a dense bush or in a fork between two tree branches, and is built by the female alone.
As is the case with many birds of prey, falcons have exceptional powers of vision; the visual acuity of one species has been measured at 2.6 times that of human eyes. [11] They are incredibly fast fliers, with the Peregrine falcons having been recorded diving at speeds of 320 km/h (200 mph), making them the fastest-moving creatures on Earth ...
With regards to their relationship with the New Guinea singing dogs - one of Papua's only obligate terrestrial apex predators, with the other being the crocodile monitor - adult birds generally ignore them, with some even believing that the dogs take full advantage of the birds' foraging behaviour, as both species share and use the same feeding ...