Hello and welcome back to my musings.

I’m always looking and listening for interesting information about our bird friends. I came across some fascinating tidbits thanks to the old Birdwatcher’s Digest magazine website. I’d like to share some of them with you.

Swifts are swift and can fly up to 170 miles per hour, but the fastest bird is the Peregrine Falcon. It can fly more than 200 mph! The slowest flying bird is the American Woodcock with a top speed of 5 mph.

A group of chickens is called a peep. There are more chickens in the world than people. Chickens have only 250 to 350 taste buds compared to the 9,000 that humans have. Chickens are also the closest living relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, so don’t get a chicken mad at you!

Studies show that many wild birds will die in the first year of life, but if they can survive that first year then they have a strong chance of living a good long life. An American Robin can live up to twelve years, Great Blue Herons and Canada Geese can live more than twenty-three years, Blue Jays more than eighteen years, and some blackbirds more than fifteen years.

An Ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

Swans mate for life. Some have more than 20,000 feathers in their plumage.

A group of Starlings decided to rest on the minute hand of Big Ben, causing the clock to become five minutes slow.

A duck’s eggshell is porous allowing the baby duckling to breathe. Research shows that ducks on the edge of a group sleep with one eye open, and those in the middle of the group sleep with both eyes closed.

Arctic Terns can live for more than thirty years. During breeding season their bill color changes from black to red.I hope you found some of this interesting if not entertaining. I know I sure did!

Speaking of entertaining, I’ll wrap this up with a little bird humor.
Why do hummingbirds hum? Because they don’t know the words.
What happens to a duck if it flies upside down? It quacks up!

Until next time, Millie, the Muse of Mews