Cardinal

Cardinalis cardinalis

Noted for their bright red plumage, cardinals have about two dozen songs.

Photograph courtesy Harvey Doerksen/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The northern cardinal is so well loved that it has been named the official bird of no fewer than seven U.S. states. Bright red cardinals are easily identified by even casual bird watchers, and are often seen frequenting backyards and bird feeders. When foraging elsewhere the birds eat insects, seeds, grain, fruit, and sap.

Cardinals, also called "redbirds," do not migrate and have traditionally been more common in warmer climes such as the U.S. southeast. However, in recent decades they have expanded their common range north through the United States and even into Canada. This population growth may be due to an increase in winter birdfeeders and to the bird's ability to adapt to parks and suburban human habitats.

Only males sport the brilliant red plumage for which their species is known. The color is a key to mating success—the brighter the better. Females are an attractive tan/gray.

Cardinals are active songbirds and sing a variety of different melodies.

Males can be aggressive when defending their territory, and they frequently attack other males who intrude. This tendency sometimes leads cardinals to fly into glass windows, when they charge an "intruding bird" that is really their own reflection.

Read full here... http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/cardinal/

Does't look like an Angry Bird?

Toucan

 

Ramphastos toco

The toucan's large, colorful bill may look like it packs a bite, but it is better adapted for feeding than fighting.

Photograph by Jason Edwards

The Toco toucan is at home in South America's tropical forests but recognized everywhere. The toucan's oversized, colorful bill has made it one of the world's most popular birds.

The 7.5-inch-long (19-centimeter-long) bill may be seen as a desirable mating trait, but if so, it is one that both male and female toucans possess. In fact, both sexes use their bills to catch tasty morsels and pitch them to one another during a mating ritual fruit toss.

As a weapon, the bill is a bit more show than substance. It is a honeycomb of bone that actually contains a lot of air. While its size may deter predators, it is of little use in combating them.

But the toucan's bill is useful as a feeding tool. The birds use them to reach fruit on branches that are too small to support their weight, and also to skin their pickings. In addition to fruit, Toco toucans eat insects and, sometimes, young birds, eggs, or lizards.

Toco toucans live in small flocks of about six birds. Their bright colors actually provide good camouflage in the dappled light of the rain forest canopy. However, the birds commonly keep up a racket of vocalization, which suggests that they are not trying to remain hidden.

Toucans nest in tree holes. They usually have two to four eggs each year, which both parents care for. Young toucans do not have a large bill at birth—it grows as they develop and does not become full size for several months.

Read full here... http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/toucan/

Thick-Billed Murre

 

Uria lomvia

Thick-billed and thin-billed murres rest on a rock in the sun on Gull Island in Alaska. Thick-bills are recognizable not just by their slightly heavier bills but also by the white line down the sides of the bill.

Photograph by Michael Melford

The thick-billed murre swims far better than it flies. Takeoff is awkward, but once it's airborne, it can fly at about 75 miles an hour (120 kilometers an hour). Among the deepest underwater divers of all birds, it uses its stubby wings to "fly" through the water, routinely reaching depths of more than 330 feet (100 meters)—sometimes even twice that—in pursuit of the fish, squid, and crustaceans it feeds on.

Covered in black feathers on its head, back, and wings and white feathers on its breast and underside, this waterbird can be found in and around Arctic waters. In the summer it breeds off the rocky coasts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Russia. But in winter—when it's not breeding—the thick-billed murre is at sea, off the edge of open ice southward to Nova Scotia and northern British Columbia. It also winters off the coasts of Greenland, northern Europe, and southward in the Pacific Ocean to northern Japan.

The thick-billed murre doesn’t build nests. Instead, the female joins others of her species in a large, noisy colony and lays a single egg on a narrow cliff ledge. She then arranges pebbles and other debris close to the egg, cementing them with feces to form a support that prevents the large egg from rolling off the ledge if it dislodges. The egg hatches in 30 to 35 days. Both parents feed the chick, caring for it until it fledges at about 21 days old. At this time, chicks make a migratory journey that is unique among birds, swimming as far as 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) in the first leg to their wintering grounds off the coast of Newfoundland.

Rad full here... http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/murre/