With all of us in lock down, I thought it would be a good time to share some fun facts about birds and then suggest some links on watching birds from in and around home.

There are over 10,000 known species of bird in the world and perhaps a little over 21,000 sub-species. It is highly likely that there are still many more species yet to be discovered and named; especially in remoter island, jungles and mountain forests.

Every bird has a story to tell. I wanted to pick 4 of my top 10 birds and some of the more unusual facts about them.

Let’s start with something familiar to those living in Hampshire; the mute swan. It is one of the UK’s largest and heaviest species that still has the ability to fly. A typical swan will weigh in at 10kg; that’s the equivalent of about 8 standard bags of flour! And one swan is covered with about 24,000 feathers-some to keep it warm, others to help keep it dry and others to that enable it to fly. And the noise they make is the feathers in their wings and can be heard up to half a mile away.

Another popular Hampshire bird is the peregrine. But it is not only found in the UK but in every continent-from South America to Australasia…with the exception of Antarctica. Until quite recently peregrine were reported at hunting speeds of over 100 miles per hour; but recent surveys have indicated that their dive speed is probably nearly double that-a massive 200mph. It is not surprising that on contact with their prey, they normally knock it out instantly with their talons. According to researchers at Lund University, their visual power is incredible too… they can process images so fast they would have to get to 129 frames per second before the image they were seeing was in constant motion. In other words, the world around them appears to be stationary…a huge benefit when catching prey!

What about a couple or exotic species? The Cuban bee hummingbird is the smallest bird species on the planet at 2.2inches (5.5cm). That is approximately twice the size of a UK bumblebee and smaller than some tropical insect species. They pollinate typically just 10 flower species; 9 of which are endemic to Cuba. So the bee hummingbird collects nectar and in doing so brushes up on the flower and collects pollen too….helping some very rare plant species to survive as they feed. At 1.95 grammes they weigh the same as half a teaspoon of sugar!!!

And then we have the amazing golden eagle; which soars across mountains in North America, Asia and Europe on outstretched wings of more than 6 feet. They can live as pairs for 20 years or more and go back to using the same nest sites year after year. A typical cliff- based nest will be 1.2metres across and up to 2 metres deep. The largest ever recorded nest (in Scotland) was 45 years old and 4.6 metres deep. A typical pair will stay in the same area for life and cover a feeding area of 60 square miles.

Has this caught your imagination? Maybe you want to find out more about your favourite birds?

If you want to know more why not log on to:

www.rspb.org.uk>fun-and-learning>for-kids>facts-about-nature

www.birdspot.co.uk

www.bto.org>understanding-birds>birdfacts

or maybe you’d like to join the Big Garden Birdwatch and start recording what you see around your home each year:

www.rspb.org.uk>get-involved>activities>birdwatch

or if you are really keen and want to record birds from your local area more frequently:

www.brc.ac.uk>irecord

Have fun finding out your own facts about UK birds. Why don’t you get in contact with the newspaper and tell us some amazing facts we might not know? And maybe there will even be a prize from the author for the most fun facts you find!