A part from providing names for aircraft, birds are notably absent from this book. Similarly, they are not on the list of animals in space either. Nonetheless, we are indebted to birds because, ultimately, they are the inspiration for everything on these pages.
Kori Bustard
(Ardeotis kori)
The kori bustard from southern Africa and the great bustard found in Europe and Asia each weigh just over 40 pounds. Reports of a 46-lb bustard killed in China suggest it couldn’t actually get off the ground.
Andean Condor
(Vultur gryphus)
With a wingspan of over 10 feet, this impressive South American bird can weigh over 30 pounds. It covers great distances in search of food.
Steller’s Sea Eagle
(Haliaeetus pelagicus)
Having an 8-foot wingspan, the Steller’s sea eagle is generally reckoned to be, on average, the biggest eagle in a closely contested battle with the more powerful harpy and Philippine eagles.
Bee Hummingbird
(Mellisuga helenae)
About as small as a vertebrate can get, the bee hummingbird is found only in the forests of Cuba. It has such mastery of the air that it never needs to walk more than a couple of inches on the ground.
Sooty Tern
(Onychoprion fuscatus)
Once it has left its nesting grounds, the sooty tern may spend three to ten years simply soaring above and floating on the sea before returning to land to breed.
Bar-tailed Godwit
(Limosa lapponica)
In 2007 a godwit was tracked flying nonstop from Alaska to New Zealand, completing the 7,145-mile journey in just nine days by shutting down one half of her brain at a time to sleep.
Wandering Albatross
(Diomedea exulans)
The largest wingspan ever recorded for this bird was that of an old male caught by a research ship in the Tasman Sea in 1965. He had a wingspan of 11 feet 11 inches. Expert gliders, albatrosses can soar for many hours without beating their wings.
South American Teratorn
(Argentavis magnificens)
Fossils found in Argentina suggest that this huge condor-type bird, thought to have lived 6–8 million years ago, had a wingspan of 25 feet. By comparison, a Cessna 152 has a wingspan of 33 feet.
Peregrine Falcon
(Falco peregrinus)
The peregrine (long my favorite bird) is not merely the fastest bird, but also the fastest living creature. In level flight, a peregrine can reach speeds of 60 mph or so, but in a dive to snatch its prey in midair, its speed far exceeds that. Peregrines have been recorded diving at over 240 mph.
Horned Sungem
(Heliactin cornuta)
This little bird from South America beats its wings up and down ninety times a second. Hummingbirds have muscles above their wings as well as below, giving power to their upstrokes as well as downstrokes. This gives them the ability to hover in still air, and to fly backward and sideways, all in a blur. Awesome!
Rüppell’s Vulture
(Gyps rueppellii)
In 1973, while flying over Ivory Coast, West Africa, an airliner at 37,000 feet collided with a Rüppell’s vulture and lost an engine. The jet was able to declare an emergency and land in one piece. The vulture not so much.
Harpy Eagle
(Harpia harpyja)
While raptors such as the golden eagle and Philippine eagle can knock over and kill prey weighing 60 pounds or more (the golden eagle has been filmed pulling goats off mountain ledges so that they fall to their death), the largest documented prey known to have been picked up and carried away was a 15-lb red howler monkey snatched by a harpy eagle in Peru in 1990—that’s three-quarters of the bird’s own body weight.
Bald Eagle
(Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
A formidable hunter, this majestic creature is a US national symbol. In 1963 a nest 9 feet 6 inches wide and 20 feet deep, built by a pair of bald eagles in Florida, was estimated to weigh over 2 tons.
