Flash
23/2/26
Visiting Birdworld
I had so much fun visiting Birdworld and learning more about the birds they have there I thought I should share some facts with you!
At Birdworld they have a huge variety of amazing birds to see. If you are there you could explore our Whizzbots Adventures at Birdworld Trip booklet to help you learn even more about their birds. As you go around you can find all the answers to the questions at Birdworld, but just in case most of the answers are also in this post!
The Laughing Kookaburra is the largest member of the Kingfisher family. Its call sounds like it is laughing!
Toucans can be found in Central and South America. They have a huge bill and a tongue that is 15cm long!
Black Cheeked Lovebirds are one of the rarest parrots in Africa. Their food is low in moisture so they must drink lots of water to survive.
An African Spoonbill is a type of wadding bird. They like to live in lakes and marshes. They have a huge spoon shaped bill!
Emu's can be found living in Australia in the wild. They are the 2nd largest bird in the world and are too big to be able to fly!
Flamingos
There are 6 species of flamingo. The species at Birdworld are Chilean flamingos from South America. Flamingos can also be found living in Africa and India. They are always found near to water, especially around lakes and swamps.
The different species vary in size and shades of pink. Underneath their wings they have black feathers, which you can’t usually see unless they are stretching out their wings or flying.
Flamingos have a long neck, small head and curved pink and black bills (another word for beak). Flamingos have very long thin, stilt like legs. The joint on their legs goes backwards, not forwards, and is actually their ankle joint not knee.
You see flamingos standing around a lot, often just on one leg. They even sleep standing on one leg with their head tucked into their wing. But they are in fact really good at flying and can even swim too.
Flamingos live in large groups in the wild, which can be absolutely massive, with thousands of flamingos in it. These big groups are called a flamboyance!
Flamingos like to eat things like small crustaceans, shrimp and algae. To eat a flamingo will put its head upside down in the water. It then will take a huge gulp of water and move its head side to side, using its tongue to push water in and out of its bill. A comb along the edge of its bill creates a filter for water to escape back out, while keeping the food inside for it to eat.
Flamingos take good care of their young. Flamingos usually lay one egg at a time. They lay the egg in a nest they have created out of mud. They look a bit like a mini volcano! Both the male and female flamingos keep the egg warm and take good care of the chick when its born. When they are born flamingos are grey in colour. It is their food that turns them pink! Carotenoids found in algae, shrimp, and other small crustaceans turns them a pink colour!
Pelicans
There are 8 species of pelicans. The pelicans at Birdworld are Australian pelicans. In the wild they can be found on all continents except Antarctica, living near water by the coast, lakes or rivers.
They are one of the largest birds that can fly. They have a big wingspan of just over 2 and a half metres, which is the length of their wings from tip to tip. They can also swim, using their webbed feet. They have very short legs, unlike the flamingos they are with at Birdworld! Most are covered in white feathers, although some are darker. They have huge bills with unusual throat pouches that they use for catching fish, their favourite food. They also will eat crustaceans, amphibians, chicks and eggs.
Pelicans like to live, fly and hunt in groups. These groups are called pods or squadrons! Pelicans look after their young well. Both male and female pelicans help incubating their eggs on their feet and feeding chicks once hatched.
Owls
There are around 250 different species of owl living all over the world. They have five different species at Birdworld. They are found in many different types of habitat and the only continent they don’t live in is Antarctica. Owls are birds of prey, which means they hunt other animals for food.
Owls have large round faces and their very big eyes face forward, unlike most birds whose eyes are on the sides of their head. Unlike many creatures they can’t move their eyes at all, which is why they turn their head so much! Owls can turn their head 270 degrees, which is about 3/4 of the way round, and can look behind them without moving the rest of its body. They have hooked beaks and sharp claws, which help them catch and kill their prey.
Owls have excellent eyesight and hearing (much better than us!) which makes them really good at hunting their prey. Most species of owl are nocturnal, but not all! Some are diurnal, which means they are awake and active during the day and many are crepuscular, meaning they are active at dawn and dusk. Depending on when they are awake owls have different eye colours. If they are nocturnal an owls eyes are dark brown or black, if they are diurnal their eyes are yellow and if they are crepuscular their eyes are orange.
Owls like to eat many different small creatures, depending on their species, such as minibeasts, mice, lizards, fish and other birds. They usually swallow their prey whole and then cough up the bones and fur, spitting it out in something called a pellet.
Owls mostly live on their own or in pairs, but some species might live quite close to other owls of the same species. A group of owls is called a parliament.
Both male and female owls look after their young, called owlets. Most species don’t build nests as such, instead preferring to use things such as holes in trees and buildings or even reusing another birds nest. Female owls tend to stay and look after the owlets, while the male goes and catches the prey.
Barn owls are one of the most widespread species of owl all over the world. Look at its eyes...when is it awake according to its eye colour?
A Snowy owl is diurnal, which means they are awake during the day. Can you see its yellow eyes?
The Northern Long Eared owl is one of the Uk's native species.
Named after the white ring arounds its eyes!
Burrowing owls like to go underground in burrows. It is the only owl species to do this!
Macaws
Macaws are a type of parrot. There are 17 species of these colourful birds. They are found living in tropical rainforests in the wild in Central and South America. At Birdworld they have Blue Throated Macaws and Blue and Gold Macaws as well.
Macaws come in lots of different bright colours, including red, blue, yellow and green depending on their species. They have long impressive tail feathers.
They are very intelligent birds. They can even mimic human speech, which is amazing! To talk to each other they use loud, screeching calls, which can be heard for miles.
Macaws eat fruit, seeds and nuts. Their beaks are well designed to crack open nuts. They will also eat insects.
Macaws live in groups of 10-30 birds, in smaller groups or even just in a pair. They stay in their pairs for life. Groups of parrots like macaws are called a pandemonium.
When waiting for an egg to hatch it will be the female macaws that spend most of the time sitting with eggs and they are fed by the male so they don’t have to leave. Once hatched the baby macaws stay with their parents for over a year. Macaws are amongst the longest living birds, living for around 50 years in the wild but some live for even longer.
Unfortunately many are vulnerable, endangered or even critically endangered because of deforestation, hunting, and being illegally caught for the pet trade.
Cockatoos
Out of all the birds I saw at Birdworld, these were probably my favourite!
Cockatoos are also a type of parrot. There are 21 species that are found living in and around Australia. At Birdworld they have Yellow Crested Cockatoos and Citron Crested Cockatoos.
There are lots of different coloured cockatoos, including white, grey, black and even pink. They often then have different coloured feather under their wings, such as yellow or red. Cockatoos all have an impressive crest of feathers on their heads which also can be a different colour. When a cockatoo is excited, scared, or curious, it raises the feathers on its head so they stick up.
Like macaws they are incredibly smart, loud social birds. In fact they are the loudest of all parrot species. They are brilliant at mimicking and love to play!
Like macaws and other parrots cockatoos live in groups, and in life long pairs, which work together to look after their young. They also can live a similar length of time to macaws.
Like macaws many cockatoos are endangered for similar reasons.
Penguins
There are 18 species of penguins. The two species at Birdworld are Humboldt penguins and African penguins. Sadly quite a few species of penguin are endangered, or vulnerable, which is one level below endangered. The African Penguin for example is critically endangered. Penguins live in lots of different habitats in the southern hemisphere, south of the equator.
Penguins are black and white birds. Although it might not look like it, penguins are covered in feathers, just like other birds.
They are good at walking on their two feet and their wings act much more like flippers to make them excellent swimmers, but it does mean, very unusually for birds, they can’t actually fly!
Penguins are carnivores and they like to eat fish and other small sea creatures. Penguins find their food in the sea. When they are in the water the colours of their feathers help them camouflage in the water. Their black back and white tummy help them blend in with the dark water and bright sky.
All penguins live in groups, which can be called colonies, or they can be called a waddle (when the penguins are on land) and a raft (when they are in the water). These colonies can be made up of different numbers of penguins. Penguins like to huddle together to keep warm, and do this especially when they are sleeping, which they do standing up not lying down!
Penguin babies, called chicks, are born out of an egg. Penguins lay one to three eggs at a time. Both male and female penguins look after the eggs, keeping it warm, which is especially important in freezing cold habitats. Once the chick has hatched, both penguins continue to look after it while it quickly learns how to waddle, swim and most importantly hunt.
Humboldt penguins are from South America and come from a much warmer climate that most penguins.
The only species found in Africa, African penguins also live in a warm habitat in the wild!
Photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots and Public Domain Images.