10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds

10

Esther’s writing prompt: February 4 : Flying

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This is not a super fact post but a post featuring ten wind blowing facts about birds. Let me rephrase that, ten mind blowing facts about birds. Sorry for flying that pun in your face.

My super facts are true based on reputable sources, despite being surprising or disputed. A super fact is also important and educational, unlike typical trivia. I consider the last seven bird facts below to be trivia and therefore not super facts. However, I hope my ten bird facts will at least raise some eyebrows and be somewhat educational. I have listed the ten facts below and if you want to learn more about them you can read the rest of the post.

  • There are flying Turkeys
  • Birds are Dinosaurs
  • Wind power saves a lot more birds than it kills
  • Birds don’t pee
  • Birds can use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate
  • Some birds sleep while flying
  • Birds have hollow bones, but they’re super strong
  • Some birds use tools
  • Swifts can stay airborne for 10 months
  • Chickens can recognize up to 100 faces
A shoebill stork is a large gray-blue bird with a huge beak.
A shoebill stork standing at Ueno Zoo, Tokyo, five feet tall. Bob Owen, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

There are flying Turkeys

Domesticated Turkeys and Wild Turkeys are the same species, but Wild Turkeys can fly distances of more than a mile, sometimes at speeds of 55 miles per hour. I’ve seen it with my own eyes on turkey hunts. I’ve seen turkeys fly, flap their wings, take off and glide across the sky at the height of 30-50 feet. You can read more about it here and here. Below is a video showing wild Turkeys flying.

The photo shows a male turkey in the middle of flight.
Eastern Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo flying over the snow in Ottawa, Canada Stock Photo ID: 1358163995 by Jim Cumming.
My son is standing next to truck holding a dead turkey by the legs.
My son holding the wild turkey he shot.

Birds Are Dinosaurs

Birds are descendants of specialized maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs that survived the extinction event that killed most dinosaurs 66 million years ago. They evolved during the Jurassic period from two-legged, carnivorous, and often feathered dinosaurs, and are the only surviving lineage of this group. They have been classified as avian dinosaurs since the 1980’s. In other words, they are dinosaurs. Initially feathers evolved among dinosaurs for insulation, sexual display, and camouflage rather than flight.

A lot of dinosaurs had feathers, and some could fly. Dinosaurs with feathers include, for example, Velociraptor (it might have been able to fly), Deinonychus, Archaeopteryx (could fly), Microraptor (could fly), Rahonavis (could fly), Gallimimus, Ornithomimus, Yutyrannus huali, Psittacosaurus, Psittacosaurus, Sinosauropteryx, Psittacosaurus,  Sciurumimus, Kulindadromeus, Caudipteryx, and even young T-Rex and many others. We know dinosaurs had feathers based on fossil finds.

A Gallimimus dinosaur covered in hair and feathers.
Life restoration showing an adult with feathers, based on those known from the related Ornithomimus. Picture is from Wikipedia. PaleoNeolitic, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Remember the Velociraptors in the move Jurassic Park? In the movie they had scaly skin, but in reality, they had feathers. Also, the real velociraptors might have been able to fly. Wouldn’t that have made a better movie?

A colorful velociraptor covered in feather. It does not look like it could fly.
Velociraptor with feathers (well a little bit). Shutterstock Asset id: 2636534673 by Shutterstock AI Generator

Wind power saves a lot more birds than it kills

It may come as a surprise to some, but wind power is not a major cause of bird death. Wind farms are estimated to be responsible for losing less than 0.4 birds per gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity generated, compared to over 5 birds per GWh for fossil fueled power stations, see, for example this source. This means that replacing fossil fuels with wind power saves a lot more birds than wind power turbines take. In addition, cats, windows, cars, poison and powerlines are examples of things that kill a lot more birds than wind power does. Cats kill thousands of times more birds than wind power does, and this usually does not bother us. Note I love both dogs and cats.

It is difficult to make exact estimates of bird deaths but below are some interesting graphs from reputable sources, confirmed by many other studies and analysis, such as this overview from MIT and this analysis by Hannah Richie. The numbers aren’t the same, but they make the same point. You can read more about this here.

The graph shows that Wind Turbines kill 328,000 birds per year in the US, Electrocutions kill 6,250,000 birds, Collisions with powerlines kill 32,500,000 birds, Poison kills 72,000,000 birds, Vehicle collisions kill 214,500,000 birds, Collisions with glass kill 676,500,000 birds, and cats kill 1,850,700,000 birds per year in the US.
From Wikipedia: Universiteit van Nederland, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Bar graph showing cats killing an estimated 2,400 million birds per year, buildings killing an estimated 599 million birds per year, automobiles killing an estimated 200 million birds per year, pesticides killing an estimated 67 million birds per year, powerlines killing an estimated 28 million birds per year, communication towers killing an estimated 6.6 million birds per year, and wind turbines killing an estimated 1.2 million birds per year.
An alternative graph taken from Hannah Richie / Our World in Data, using alternative sources essentially showing the same thing. Sources: Loss et al. (2015), (2013), US Fish and Wildlife Service; Subramnayan et al. (2012), American Bird Conservancy (2021).

That does not mean we shouldn’t do our best to reduce bird deaths from wind power stations. However, don’t fall for the misinformation that is trying to paint it is a big problem specifically for wind power. It is good to keep in mind that there are powerful organizations, politicians and individuals who are intentionally spreading a lot of misinformation about wind power and other renewables in an effort discredit them. One example is the series Landman which repeatedly makes demonstrably false and pretty wild claims. Landman is fiction, of course, but it is presented so it appears to be facts to unsuspecting viewers.

Birds don’t pee

Birds don’t pee liquid like mammals. They excrete waste as a white, pasty uric acid mixed with solid feces through a single opening. This means that they excrete only one type of droppings. This conserves water and keeps them lightweight for flight.

Birds can use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate

Migratory birds navigate long distances by using Earth’s magnetic field, which acts like a built-in GPS-like compass to determine direction and position. They have light-sensitive proteins called cryptochromes in their eyes, which enable them to see magnetic fields, and they can detect field intensity using magnetic crystals (magnetite) in their beaks or inner-ear cells. This enables them to know direction, inclination and position. The detection of the magnetic field is very fine and is believed to involve quantum mechanical mechanisms. You can read more about how migrating birds use quantum effects to navigate here

Birds flying in an arrow formation in a sky with clouds and fuzzy sun.
Silhouette of birds flying in arrow formation at sunset sky. Shutterstock Asset id: 717932599 by Vaclav Volrab

Some birds sleep while flying

Many birds, especially long-distance migrants like Albatrosses, swifts and frigatebirds, sleep while flying by using one half of the brain at a time. They usually sleep while ascending at higher altitudes and just for one hour.

Tweety bird flying with eyes closed
A sleeping bird flying. Picture generated with the help of ChatGPT.

Birds have hollow bones—but they’re super strong

Birds have hollow bones. They are not necessarily lighter but they’re super strong. The structure is denser and reinforced with internal struts, kind of like aerospace engineering. The bones are full of spaces for air giving them a more efficient respiratory system and allowing them to take in oxygen while both inhaling and exhaling.

Some birds use tools

New Caledonian crows craft hooks from sticks to fish insects out of holes. They carve, nibble and peel the tip of the stick until it has a hook. Striated Herons drop larvae, worms, and insects on the water to attract prey. They sometimes break sticks into pieces to use as artificial bait to attract fish. Rooks, corvid bird, drop rocks into water to raise the water level so that they can reach prey. Carrion crows use traffic to crack hard-shelled nuts. For example, they drop walnuts on busy roads, often at pedestrian crossings, and wait for cars to crush them, then retrieving the food during red lights. Egyptian Vultures pick up stones in their beaks and throw them at large, hard-shelled eggs to break them. There are many other examples.

Swifts can stay airborne for 10 months

Common swifts can stay airborne for up to 10 months without landing during their non-breeding migration. They eat, drink, sleep, and even mate while in flight, only landing to nest for two months in the summer.

A swift flying on a blue background. Photo taken from below.
White-rumped swift, Apus caffer, at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa. Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Chickens can recognize up to 100 faces

Chickens don’t just recognize other chickens; they also recognize human faces. Chickens remember positive or negative experiences with the faces they recognize and pass that information on to members of their flocks. Let’s think about that while we chew on our chicken nuggets.

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

5 thoughts on “10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds”

  1. I love your title! Yes, I knew these facts about birds as I have had an interest in them since I was child. Many of them are much smarter than people think. When I lived in the north, I once watched three ravens seemingly discuss – they did a lot of chittering among themselves beforehand – and then execute a plan to get a dog’s food away from it. Two of them distracted the dog while the third flew away with the entire bowl! Then they met at a spot outside the fenced yard and ate their prize. The poor dog was completely befuddled.

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  5. These are interesting facts about the way birds are. I like birds, and always wonder how they migrate and come to the same place every year. We have the little playa lake by our house where geese come in the winter. However this year there is a huge problem with them having bird flu. So sad. Are they giving warning of that down there?

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